Instabilities of Monte-Carlo burnup calculations for nuclear reactors—Demonstration and dependence from time step model

•Continuous Energy Monte-Carlo burnup code.•Instabilities of depletion calculation in loosely coupled system.•Advanced step model for burnup calculations.•Xenon profile oscillation in thermal reactor.•Parametrical study of instabilities. In this paper we use the Continuous Energy Monte-Carlo tool to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear engineering and design 2015-05, Vol.286, p.49-59
Main Authors: Kępisty, Grzegorz, Cetnar, Jerzy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer simulation
Depletion
Instability
Mathematical models
Monte Carlo methods
Nuclear power generation
Nuclear reactor components
Stability
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Summary:•Continuous Energy Monte-Carlo burnup code.•Instabilities of depletion calculation in loosely coupled system.•Advanced step model for burnup calculations.•Xenon profile oscillation in thermal reactor.•Parametrical study of instabilities. In this paper we use the Continuous Energy Monte-Carlo tool to expose the problem of burnup instabilities occurring in 1D and 2D systems based on PWR geometry. The intensity of power profile oscillations is studied as a function of geometry properties and time step length. We compare two step models for depletion procedure: classic staircase step model and stochastic implicit Euler method, that belongs to the family of predictor–corrector schemes. What is more, we consider the usage of better neutron source intensity value than beginning-of-step approximation. Required methodology was implemented into MCB5 simulation code. The practical conclusions about depletion calculations were formulated and the efficiency of advanced step model was confirmed.
ISSN:0029-5493
1872-759X
DOI:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.01.023