• Title/Summary/Keyword: Reactor physics

Search Result 285, Processing Time 0.02 seconds

The Summary of Researches on ADS in China

  • Haihong Xia;Zhixiang Zhao;Jigen Li;Yongqian Shi;Yinlu Han;Shengyun Zhu;Yongli Xu;Xialing Guan;Shinian Fu;Baoqun Cui
    • Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
    • /
    • 2005.11b
    • /
    • pp.76-85
    • /
    • 2005
  • The conceptual study of Accelerator Driven System (ADS) had lasted for about five years and ended in 1999 in China. As one project of 'the major state basic research program (973)' in energy domain, which is sponsored by the China Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), a five years program of basic research for ADS physics and related technology has been launched since 2000 and passed national review last month. CIAE (China Institute of Atomic Energy), IHEP (Institute of High Energy Physics), PKU-IHIP (Institute of Heavy Ion Physics in Peking University) and other institutions are jointly carrying on the research. The research activities are focused on HPPA physics and technology, reactor physics of external source driven sub-critical assembly, nuclear data base and material study. For HPPA, a high current injector consisting of an ECR ion source, LEBT and a RFQ accelerating structure of 3.5MeV has been built. In reactor physics study, a series of neutron multiplication experimental study has been carried out and is being carrying on. The VENUS facility has been constructed as the basic experimental platform for the neutronics study in ADS blanket. It's a zero power sub-critical neutron multiplying assembly driven by external neutron produced by a pulsed neutron generator. The theoretical, experimental and simulation study on nuclear data, material properties and nuclear fuel circulation related to ADS is carrying on to provide the database for ADS system analysis. The main results on ADS related researches will be reported.

  • PDF

Research on the cable-driven endoscopic manipulator for fusion reactors

  • Guodong Qin;Yong Cheng;Aihong Ji;Hongtao Pan;Yang Yang;Zhixin Yao;Yuntao Song
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.56 no.2
    • /
    • pp.498-505
    • /
    • 2024
  • In this paper, a cable-driven endoscopic manipulator (CEM) is designed for the Chinese latest compact fusion reactor. The whole CEM arm is more than 3000 mm long and includes end vision tools, an endoscopic manipulator/control system, a feeding system, a drag chain system, support systems, a neutron shield door, etc. It can cover a range of ±45° of the vacuum chamber by working in a wrap-around mode, etc., to meet the need for observation at any position and angle. By placing all drive motors in the end drive box via a cable drive, cooling, and radiation protection of the entire robot can be facilitated. To address the CEM motion control problem, a discrete trajectory tracking method is proposed. By restricting each joint of the CEM to the target curve through segmental fitting, the trajectory tracking control is completed. To avoid the joint rotation angle overrun, a joint limit rotation angle optimization method is proposed based on the equivalent rod length principle. Finally, the CEM simulation system is established. The rationality of the structure design and the effectiveness of the motion control algorithm are verified by the simulation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-LEVELING BEHAVIOR OF DEBRIS BEDS IN A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS

  • Cheng, Songbai;Yamano, Hidemasa;Suzuki, TYohru;Tobita, Yoshiharu;Nakamura, Yuya;Zhang, Bin;Matsumoto, Tatsuya;Morita, Koji
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.45 no.3
    • /
    • pp.323-334
    • /
    • 2013
  • During a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (CDA) in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), degraded core materials can form roughly conically-shaped debris beds over the core-support structure and/or in the lower inlet plenum of the reactor vessel from rapid quenching and fragmentation of the core material pool. However, coolant boiling may ultimately lead to leveling of the debris bed, which is crucial to the relocation of the molten core and heat-removal capability of the debris bed. To clarify the mechanisms underlying this self-leveling behavior, a large number of experiments were performed within a variety of conditions in recent years, under the constructive collaboration between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kyushu University (Japan). The present contribution synthesizes and gives detailed comparative analyses of those experiments. Effects of various experimental parameters that may have potential influence on the leveling process, such as boiling mode, particle size, particle density, particle shape, bubbling rate, water depth and column geometry, were investigated, thus giving a large palette of favorable data for the better understanding of CDAs, and improved verifications of computer models developed in advanced fast reactor safety analysis codes.

Characteristics of a Fusion Driven Transmutation Reactor

  • Hong, B.G.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
    • /
    • 2012.02a
    • /
    • pp.582-582
    • /
    • 2012
  • Characteristics of a fusion-driven transmutation reactor was investigated. A compact reactor concept is desirable from an economic viewpoint. For the optimal design of a reactor, a radial build of reactor components has to be determined by considering the plasma physics and engineering constraints which inter-relate various reactor components. In a transmutation reactor, design of blanket and shield play a key role in determining the size of a reactor; the blanket should produce enough tritium for tritium self-sufficiency, the transmutation rate of waste has to be maximized, and the shield should provide sufficient protection for the superconducting toroidal field (TF) coil. To determine the radial build of the blanket and the shield, not only a radiation transport analysis but also a burnup calculation were coupled with the system analysis and it allowed the self-consistent determination of the design parameters of a transmutation reactor.

  • PDF

Phase-field simulation of radiation-induced bubble evolution in recrystallized U-Mo alloy

  • Jiang, Yanbo;Xin, Yong;Liu, Wenbo;Sun, Zhipeng;Chen, Ping;Sun, Dan;Zhou, Mingyang;Liu, Xiao;Yun, Di
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.54 no.1
    • /
    • pp.226-233
    • /
    • 2022
  • In the present work, a phase-field model was developed to investigate the influence of recrystallization on bubble evolution during irradiation. Considering the interaction between bubbles and grain boundary (GB), a set of modified Cahn-Hilliard and Allen-Cahn equations, with field variables and order parameters evolving in space and time, was used in this model. Both the kinetics of recrystallization characterized in experiments and point defects generated during cascade were incorporated in the model. The bubble evolution in recrystallized polycrystalline of U-Mo alloy was also investigated. The simulation results showed that GB with a large area fraction generated by recrystallization accelerates the formation and growth of bubbles. With the formation of new grains, gas atoms are swept and collected by GBs. The simulation results of bubble size and distribution are consistent with the experimental results.

Domain Decomposition Strategy for Pin-wise Full-Core Monte Carlo Depletion Calculation with the Reactor Monte Carlo Code

  • Liang, Jingang;Wang, Kan;Qiu, Yishu;Chai, Xiaoming;Qiang, Shenglong
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.48 no.3
    • /
    • pp.635-641
    • /
    • 2016
  • Because of prohibitive data storage requirements in large-scale simulations, the memory problem is an obstacle for Monte Carlo (MC) codes in accomplishing pin-wise three-dimensional (3D) full-core calculations, particularly for whole-core depletion analyses. Various kinds of data are evaluated and quantificational total memory requirements are analyzed based on the Reactor Monte Carlo (RMC) code, showing that tally data, material data, and isotope densities in depletion are three major parts of memory storage. The domain decomposition method is investigated as a means of saving memory, by dividing spatial geometry into domains that are simulated separately by parallel processors. For the validity of particle tracking during transport simulations, particles need to be communicated between domains. In consideration of efficiency, an asynchronous particle communication algorithm is designed and implemented. Furthermore, we couple the domain decomposition method with MC burnup process, under a strategy of utilizing consistent domain partition in both transport and depletion modules. A numerical test of 3D full-core burnup calculations is carried out, indicating that the RMC code, with the domain decomposition method, is capable of pin-wise full-core burnup calculations with millions of depletion regions.

Some Studies on Physics Parameters of Wolsung Unit No. 1

  • Kim, Seoung-Yun;Kim, Bong-Ghi;Kim, Dong-Hoon
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.12 no.2
    • /
    • pp.111-120
    • /
    • 1980
  • Nuclear physics parameters of the Wolsung CANDU-PHW reactor are computed by use of the PHWCELL computer code that is an improved version of LATREP. The PHWCELL code mainly computes cell parameters of heavy water moderated reactors, and modeling scheme of heavy water reactor cell calculations has been developed with the PHWCELL computer code. The reactor operating conditions considered in the study are cold zero power (CZP) and hot full power (HFP) with equilibrium poison. The cell parameters are also computed as a function of fuel burnup and the numerical results are compared with the results in PSR of the Wolsung unit and in the previous study.

  • PDF

Uncertainty analyses of spent nuclear fuel decay heat calculations using SCALE modules

  • Shama, Ahmed;Rochman, Dimitri;Pudollek, Susanne;Caruso, Stefano;Pautz, Andreas
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.53 no.9
    • /
    • pp.2816-2829
    • /
    • 2021
  • Decay heat residuals of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), i.e., the differences between calculations and measurements, were obtained previously for various spent fuel assemblies (SFA) using the Polaris module of the SCALE code system. In this paper, we compare decay heat residuals to their uncertainties, focusing on four PWRs and four BWRs. Uncertainties in nuclear data and model inputs are propagated stochastically through calculations using the SCALE/Sampler super-sequence. Total uncertainties could not explain the residuals of two SFAs measured at GE-Morris. The combined z-scores for all SFAs measured at the Clab facility could explain the resulting deviations. Nuclear-data-related uncertainties contribute more in the high burnup SFAs. Design and operational uncertainties tend to contribute more to the total uncertainties. Assembly burnup is a relevant variable as it correlates significantly with the SNF decay heat. Additionally, burnup uncertainty is a major contributor to decay heat uncertainty, and assumptions relating to these uncertainties are crucial. Propagation of nuclear data and design and operational uncertainties shows that the analyzed assemblies respond similarly with high correlation. The calculated decay heats are highly correlated in the PWRs and BWRs, whereas lower correlations were observed between decay heats of SFAs that differ in their burnups.

A new moving-mesh Finite Volume Method for the efficient solution of two-dimensional neutron diffusion equation using gradient variations of reactor power

  • Vagheian, Mehran;Ochbelagh, Dariush Rezaei;Gharib, Morteza
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.51 no.5
    • /
    • pp.1181-1194
    • /
    • 2019
  • A new moving-mesh Finite Volume Method (FVM) for the efficient solution of the two-dimensional neutron diffusion equation is introduced. Many other moving-mesh methods developed to solve the neutron diffusion problems use a relatively large number of sophisticated mathematical equations, and so suffer from a significant complexity of mathematical calculations. In this study, the proposed method is formulated based on simple mathematical algebraic equations that enable an efficient mesh movement and CV deformation for using in practical nuclear reactor applications. Accordingly, a computational framework relying on a new moving-mesh FVM is introduced to efficiently distribute the meshes and deform the CVs in regions with high gradient variations of reactor power. These regions of interest are very important in the neutronic assessment of the nuclear reactors and accordingly, a higher accuracy of the power densities is required to be obtained. The accuracy, execution time and finally visual comparison of the proposed method comprehensively investigated and discussed for three different benchmark problems. The results all indicated a higher accuracy of the proposed method in comparison with the conventional fixed-mesh FVM.

ASUSD nuclear data sensitivity and uncertainty program package: Validation on fusion and fission benchmark experiments

  • Kos, Bor;Cufar, Aljaz;Kodeli, Ivan A.
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.53 no.7
    • /
    • pp.2151-2161
    • /
    • 2021
  • Nuclear data (ND) sensitivity and uncertainty (S/U) quantification in shielding applications is performed using deterministic and probabilistic approaches. In this paper the validation of the newly developed deterministic program package ASUSD (ADVANTG + SUSD3D) is presented. ASUSD was developed with the aim of automating the process of ND S/U while retaining the computational efficiency of the deterministic approach to ND S/U analysis. The paper includes a detailed description of each of the programs contained within ASUSD, the computational workflow and validation results. ASUSD was validated on two shielding benchmark experiments from the Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD) - the fission relevant ASPIS Iron 88 experiment and the fusion relevant Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG) Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Test Blanket Module (TBM) mock-up experiment. The validation process was performed in two stages. Firstly, the Denovo discrete ordinates transport solver was validated as a standalone solver. Secondly, the ASUSD program package as a whole was validated as a ND S/U analysis tool. Both stages of the validation process yielded excellent results, with a maximum difference of 17% in final uncertainties due to ND between ASUSD and the stochastic ND S/U approach. Based on these results, ASUSD has proven to be a user friendly and computationally efficient tool for deterministic ND S/U analysis of shielding geometries.