Development of fuel depletion code for molten salt reactor with very deep burnup

IF 3.3 3区工程技术 Q1 NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Progress in Nuclear Energy Pub Date : 2024-10-21 DOI:10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105506

Shuning Chen , Shaopeng Xia , Xiangzhou Cai , Chunyan Zou , Jingen Chen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

A liquid-fueled molten salt reactor (MSR) can reach a deep burnup based on online reprocessing and continuously refueling, which requires significantly different burnup calculation methods for MSRs compared with those for the traditional reactors. To address the unique burnup features and consider the fidelity of isotopic evolution in an MSR, a fuel depletion code ThorMCB is developed based on the OpenMC coupled with a specific depletion code, MODEC. Furthermore, to lower the computational cost of acquiring the equilibrium state through the time evolution step by step for an MSR, an equilibrium burnup calculation code ThorMCB-eq based on the OpenMC and MODEC is developed, which can obtain the equilibrium burnup efficiently. A single fuel lattice of MSR and an a Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) benchmark are applied for verifying the correctness of the ThorMCB and ThorMCB-eq codes. Compared with a neutron transport calculation code KENO-VI coupled with MODEC, the maximum deviation of the dominant heavy nuclides (HNs) at equilibrium state by ThorMCB is less than 10%, and that of the total mass of fission products (FPs) is less than 3%. For the MSFR benchmark, the neutronic parameters including temperature reactivity coefficient, the mass evolution of main HNs and FPs and breeding ratio (BR) from ThorMCB agree with the references. The equilibrium behavior can be quickly obtained with ThorMCB-eq, and the relative mass deviations of most nuclides keep around 2% in comparison with the results of step-by-step burnup evolution with ThorMCB. Furthermore, the same fuel contents and micro one-group cross sections at equilibrium are obtained with two different types of start-up fuels and a constant power density and fuel reprocessing scheme. In conclusion, the verified results indicate that ThorMCB and ThorMCB-eq can both provide reliable simulation for depletion evolution and equilibrium burnup for MSR fuel cycle.

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为超深燃耗熔盐反应堆开发燃料耗竭代码

液体燃料熔盐反应堆（MSR）可以通过在线后处理和持续加注达到深度燃烧，这就要求 MSR 的燃烧计算方法与传统反应堆的燃烧计算方法大不相同。针对 MSR 独特的燃耗特征，并考虑到 MSR 中同位素演变的保真度，我们在 OpenMC 的基础上开发了燃料耗尽代码 ThorMCB，并结合了特定的耗尽代码 MODEC。此外，为了降低通过时间演化逐步获取 MSR 平衡态的计算成本，还开发了基于 OpenMC 和 MODEC 的平衡燃烧计算代码 ThorMCB-eq，该代码可高效获取平衡燃烧。为了验证 ThorMCB 和 ThorMCB-eq 代码的正确性，应用了 MSR 的单燃料晶格和熔盐快堆（MSFR）基准。与结合 MODEC 的中子输运计算代码 KENO-VI 相比，ThorMCB 计算的平衡态主要重核素（HNs）的最大偏差小于 10%，裂变产物（FPs）总质量的最大偏差小于 3%。对于 MSFR 基准，中子参数包括温度反应系数、主要 HNs 和 FPs 的质量演化以及 ThorMCB 的繁殖比（BR）与参考文献一致。使用 ThorMCB-eq 可以快速获得平衡行为，与 ThorMCB 逐步燃烧演化的结果相比，大多数核素的相对质量偏差保持在 2% 左右。此外，在使用两种不同类型的启动燃料以及恒定功率密度和燃料后处理方案的情况下，可以获得相同的燃料含量和平衡时的微单组截面。总之，验证结果表明 ThorMCB 和 ThorMCB-eq 都能为 MSR 燃料循环的耗竭演化和平衡燃烧提供可靠的模拟。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Progress in Nuclear Energy 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

14.80%

发文量

331

审稿时长

3.5 months

期刊介绍： Progress in Nuclear Energy is an international review journal covering all aspects of nuclear science and engineering. In keeping with the maturity of nuclear power, articles on safety, siting and environmental problems are encouraged, as are those associated with economics and fuel management. However, basic physics and engineering will remain an important aspect of the editorial policy. Articles published are either of a review nature or present new material in more depth. They are aimed at researchers and technically-oriented managers working in the nuclear energy field. Please note the following: 1) PNE seeks high quality research papers which are medium to long in length. Short research papers should be submitted to the journal Annals in Nuclear Energy. 2) PNE reserves the right to reject papers which are based solely on routine application of computer codes used to produce reactor designs or explain existing reactor phenomena. Such papers, although worthy, are best left as laboratory reports whereas Progress in Nuclear Energy seeks papers of originality, which are archival in nature, in the fields of mathematical and experimental nuclear technology, including fission, fusion (blanket physics, radiation damage), safety, materials aspects, economics, etc. 3) Review papers, which may occasionally be invited, are particularly sought by the journal in these fields.