Analysis of variation of neutronic and kinetic parameters of a Heavy Water Zero Power Reactor caused by changes in the fuel lattice pitch using MCNPX code

IF 0.4 4区工程技术 Q4 NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Atomic Energy Pub Date : 2024-05-02 DOI:10.1007/s10512-024-01073-z

Ehsan Zarifi, Kamran Sepanloo, Mohammad Nami Nazari, Saeed Zare Ganjaroodi

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Abstract

The Heavy Water Zero Power Reactor (HWZPR) is a 100‑W research reactor that uses natural uranium metallic fuel and heavy water as moderator. The HWZPR is designed for training and research in reactor physics fields. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the variation of neutronic parameters of a HWZPR resulting from changes in the fuel lattice pitch using MCNPX code. In such a manner, neutronic parameters including effective multiplication factor (k_eff) for critical water level, effective delayed neutrons fraction (β_eff), prompt neutrons lifetime (l_p), and neutron flux distribution are investigated and benchmarked. The results illustrated that, as the lattice pitch is increased, more heavy water is needed for criticality condition according to the decrease in the number of fuel rods and fewer available fissile materials. Comparison of the results with the reactor Safety Analysis Report shows reasonable agreement.

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利用 MCNPX 代码分析燃料晶格间距变化引起的重水零功率堆中子和动力学参数的变化

重水零功率反应堆（HWZPR）是一座 100 瓦的研究反应堆，使用天然铀金属燃料和重水作为慢化剂。重水零功率堆是为反应堆物理领域的培训和研究而设计的。本文的主要目的是利用 MCNPX 代码评估 HWZPR 因燃料晶格间距变化而产生的中子参数变化。通过这种方式，对包括临界水位有效倍增因子 (keff)、有效延迟中子分数 (βeff)、快中子寿命 (lp) 和中子通量分布在内的中子参数进行了研究和基准测试。结果表明，随着晶格间距的增加，由于燃料棒数量的减少和可用裂变材料的减少，临界状态需要更多的重水。将结果与反应堆安全分析报告进行比较，结果显示二者吻合。

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来源期刊

Atomic Energy 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

20.00%

发文量

100

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Atomic Energy publishes papers and review articles dealing with the latest developments in the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Topics include nuclear chemistry and physics, plasma physics, accelerator characteristics, reactor economics and engineering, applications of isotopes, and radiation monitoring and safety.