In the framework of the Horizon 2020 project ESFR-SMART (2017-2021), the European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) core was updated through a safety-related modification and optimization of the core design from the earlier FP7 CP-ESFR project (2009-2013). This study is dedicated to neutronic analyses of the improved ESFR core design. The conducted work is reported in two parts. Part I deals with the evaluation of the safety-related neutronic parameters of the fresh Beginning-of-Life (BOL) core carried out by 8 organizations using both continuous energy Monte Carlo and deterministic computer codes. In addition to the neutronics characterization of the core, a special emphasis was put on the calibration and verification of the computational tools involved in the analyses. Part II is devoted to once-through and realistic batch-wise burnup calculations aiming at the establishing of the equilibrium core state, which will later serve as a basis for detailed safety analyses.

In the framework of the Horizon 2020 project ESFR-SMART (2017-2021), the European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) core was updated through a safety-related modification and optimization of the core design from the earlier FP7 CP-ESFR project (2009-2013). This study is dedicated to neutronic analyses of the improved ESFR core design. The conducted work is reported in two parts. Part I deals with the evaluation of the safety-related neutronic parameters of the fresh Beginning-of-Life (BOL) core carried out by 8 organizations using both continuous energy Monte Carlo and deterministic computer codes. In addition to the neutronics characterization of the core, a special emphasis was put on the calibration and verification of the computational tools involved in the analyses. Part II is devoted to once-through and realistic batch-wise burnup calculations aiming at the establishing of the equilibrium core state, which will later serve as a basis for detailed safety analyses.

In the paper, the specification of a new neutronics benchmark for a large Sodium cooled Fast Reactor core and results of modelling by different participants are presented. The neutronics benchmark describes the core of the French sodium cooled reactor Superphénix at its startup configuration, which in particular was used for experimental measurement of reactivity characteristics. The benchmark consists of the detailed heterogeneous core specification for neutronic analysis and results of the reference solution. Different core geometries and thermal conditions from cold “as fabricated” up to full power were considered. The reference Monte Carlo solution of Serpent 2 includes data on multiplication factor, power distribution, axial and radial reaction rates distribution, reactivity coefficients and safety characteristics, control rods worth, kinetic data. The results of modelling with seven other solutions using deterministic and Monte Carlo methods are also presented and compared to the reference solution. The comparisons results demonstrate appropriate agreement of evaluated characteristics. The neutronics results will be used in the second phase of the benchmark for evaluation of transient behaviour of the core.

In this work a detailed assessment of the decay heat power for the commercial-size European Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (ESFR) at the end of its equilibrium cycle has been performed. The summation method has been used to compute very accurate spatial- and time-dependent decay heat by employing state-of-the-art coupled transport-depletion computational codes and nuclear data. This detailed map provides basic information for subsequent transient calculations of the ESFR. A comprehensive analysis of the decay heat has been carried out and interdependencies among decay heat and different parameters characterizing the core state prior to shutdown, such as discharge burnup or type of fuel material, have been identified. That analysis has served as a basis to develop analytic functions to reconstruct the spatial-dependent decay heat power for the ESFR for cooling times within the first day after shutdown.

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