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HTC Experimental Program: Validation and Calculational Analysis
HTC Experimental Program: Validation and Calculational Analysis
In the 1980s a series of the Haut Taux de Combustion (HTC) critical experiments with fuel pins in a water-moderated lattice was conducted at the Apparatus B experimental facility in Valduc (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, France) with the support of the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire and AREVA NC. Four series of experiments were designed to assess profit associated with actinide-only burnup credit in the criticality safety evaluation for fuel handling, pool storage, and spent-fuel cask conditions.
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit License Application: the CASTOR X/32 S Cask Modeling Details
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit License Application: the CASTOR X/32 S Cask Modeling Details
Validation of SCALE-4 for Burnup Credit Applications
Validation of SCALE-4 for Burnup Credit Applications
In the past, criticality analysis of pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel stored in racks and casks has assumed that the fuel is fresh with the maximum allowable initial enrichment. If credit is allowed for fuel burnup in the design of casks that are used in the transport of spent light water reactor fuel to a repository, the increase in payload can lead to a significant reduction in the cost of transport and a potential reduction in the risk to the public. A portion of the work has been performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in support of the U.S.
PWR Radiochemical Assay Benchmarks Using SAS2H and CASMO
PWR Radiochemical Assay Benchmarks Using SAS2H and CASMO
Issues for Effective Implementation of Burnup Credit
Issues for Effective Implementation of Burnup Credit
In the United States, burnup credit has been used in the criticality safety evaluation for storage pools at
pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and considerable work has been performed to lay the foundation for use of
burnup credit in dry storage and transport cask applications and permanent disposal applications. Many of the
technical issues related to the basic physics phenomena and parameters of importance are similar in each of these
applications. However, the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States has never been fully integrated and the
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - I: Methodology Overview
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - I: Methodology Overview
A conservative methodology is presented that would allow taking credit for burnup in the criticality safety analysis of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) packages. The method is based on the assumption that the isotopic concentration in the SNF and cross sections of each isotope for which credit is taken must be supported by validation experiments. The method allows credit for the changes in the 234U, 235U, 236U, 238U, 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, 242Pu, and 241Am concentration with burnup. No credit for fission product neutron absorbers is taken. The methodology consists of five major steps:
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - III: Bounding Treatment of Spatial Burnup Distributions
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - III: Bounding Treatment of Spatial Burnup Distributions
A flat, uniform axial burnup assumption, preferred for its computational simplicity, does not always conservatively estimate the pressurized water reactor spent-fuel-cask multiplication factors. Rather, the reactivity effect of the significantly underburned fuel ends, usually referred to as the "end effect," can be properly treated by explicit modeling of the axial burnup distribution based on limiting axial burnup profiles.
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - II: Validation
Actinide-Only Burnup Credit for Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel - II: Validation
The calculation of isotopic concentrations in spent nuclear fuel (SNF) assemblies and the subcritical multiplication factor of SNF packages are two of the essential requirements of the actinide-only burnup credit methodology. To justify the accuracy of the computed values, the code systems used to perform the calculations must be validated. Here, the techniques used for actinide-only burnup credit isotopic and criticality validation are presented and demonstrated.
Use of Reactor-Follow Data to Determine Biases and Uncertainties for PWR spent Nuclear Fuel
Use of Reactor-Follow Data to Determine Biases and Uncertainties for PWR spent Nuclear Fuel
Effects of Integral Burnable Absorbers on PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel
Effects of Integral Burnable Absorbers on PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel
An Empirical Approach to Bounding the Axial Reactivity Effects of PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel
An Empirical Approach to Bounding the Axial Reactivity Effects of PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel
One of the significant issues yet to be resolved for using
burnup credit ~BUC! for spent nuclear fuel ~SNF! is establishing
a set of depletion parameters that produce an adequately conservative
representation of the fuel’s isotopic inventory. Depletion
parameters ~such as local power, fuel temperature, moderator temperature,
burnable poison rod history, and soluble boron concentration!
affect the isotopic inventory of fuel that is depleted in a
pressurized water reactor ~PWR!. However, obtaining the detailed
Investigation of the Effect of Fixed Absorbers on the Reactivity of PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel for Burnup Credit
Investigation of the Effect of Fixed Absorbers on the Reactivity of PWR Spent Nuclear Fuel for Burnup Credit
The effect of fixed absorbers on the reactivity of pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in support of burnup-credit criticality safety analyses is examined. A fuel assembly burned in conjunction with fixed absorbers may have a higher reactivity for a given burnup than an assembly that has not used fixed absorbers. As a result, guidance on burnup credit, issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Spent Fuel Project Office, recommends restricting the use of burnup credit to assemblies that have not used burnable absorbers.
Advances in Applications of Burnup Credit to Enhance Spent Fuel Transportation, Storage, Reprocessing and Disposition-Proceedings of a Technical Meeting held in London, 29 August-2 September 2006
Advances in Applications of Burnup Credit to Enhance Spent Fuel Transportation, Storage, Reprocessing and Disposition-Proceedings of a Technical Meeting held in London, 29 August-2 September 2006
This publication records the proceedings of a technical meeting organized by the IAEA and
held in London 29 August–2 September 2005 with sixty participants from 18 countries. As
indicated in the title, the objective of this meeting was to provide a forum for exchange of
technical information on spent fuel burnup credit applications and thereby compile state-ofthe-
art information on technical advances related to spent fuel transportation, storage,
reprocessing and disposition.