科研之友
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摘要
The development of a high-fidelity computational scheme to estimate the accumulated fluence at the tips of PWR control rods (CR) has been initiated at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI). Both the fluence from high-energy (E > 1 MeV) neutrons as well as for the thermal range (E < 0.625 eV) are required as these affect the CR integrity through stresses/strains induced by coupled clad embrittlement / absorber swelling phenomena. The concept of the PSI scheme under development is to provide from validated core analysis models, the volumetric neutron source to a full core MCNPX model that is then used to compute the neutron fluxes. A particular aspect that needs scrutiny is the ability of the MCNPX-based calculation methodology to accurately predict the flux shapes along the control rod surfaces, especially for fully withdrawn CRs. In that case, the tip is located a short distance above the core/reflector interface and since this situation corresponds to a large part of reactor operation, the accumulated fluence will highly depend on the achieved calculation accuracy and precision in this non-fueled zone. The objective of the work presented in this paper is to quantify the influence of nuclear data on the calculated fluxes at the CR tips by (1) conducting a systematic comparison of modern neutron cross-section libraries, including JENDL-4.0, JEFF3.1.1 and ENDF/B-VII.0, and (2) by quantifying the uncertainties in the neutron flux calculations with the help of available neutron cross-section variances/covariances data. For completeness, the magnitude of these nuclear data-based uncertainties is also assessed in relation to the influence from other typical sources of modeling uncertainties/biases.
- 出版日期2014-4
