SCALE Modeling of the Sodium Cooled Fast-Spectrum Advanced Burner Test Reactor

Abstract

Various reactivity calculations were performed with SCALE for the ABTR and, where possible, compared with results available in the open literature. Additionally, SCALE was used to perform a full-core depletion calculation over the 4 month cycle to obtain the nuclide inventory at the end of equilibrium cycle (EOEC). These nuclide inventories, decay heat, power profiles, and reactivity feedback coefficients at EOEC represent the initial conditions for analyzing severe accident scenarios with MELCOR.

SCALE 6.3 Modeling Strategies for Reactivity, Nuclide Inventory, and Decay Heat of Non-LWRs

“…The rapid fuel inventory generation with ORIGAMI requires reactor-specific ORIGEN reactor libraries with an adequate parameterization to the most important model parameters. For large SFRs, these ORIGEN reactor libraries can be generated using TRITON depletion calculations with a quasi-2D axial slice model because such a model captures the most relevant spectral effects (Shaw et al 2023). For smaller HPRs, the libraries must be generated using depletion of full 3D Monte Carlo models to correctly capture axial leakage.…”

“…• Pebble-bed high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) (Skutnik and Wieselquist 2021; with representative reactor PBMR-400 (NEA 2013), • Pebble-bed fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) (Bostelmann et al 2022;Wagner, Haskin, et al 2022) with representative reactor UC Berkeley Mark 1 (UCB Mk. 1) (Andreades et al 2014), • Molten salt-fueled reactor (MSR) (Lo et al 2022; with representative reactor Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) (Shen et al 2019), • Heat pipe reactor (HPR) (Walker et al 2021;Wagner, Faucett, et al 2022) with representative reactor Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Design A (Sterbentz et al 2018), and • Sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) (Shaw et al 2023; with representative reactor Advanced Burner Test Reactor (ABTR) (Kim 2020).…”

Hypothetical Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Fuel Transport Using the Existing ES-3100

“…For the SFR fuel, the reference 250 MWth Advanced Burner Test Reactor (ABTR) metallic fuel was chosen as a representative model, having been described in a public benchmark by Argonne National Laboratory, with analysis in several public Oak Ridge National Laboratory reports [8][9][10]. The reactor design consists of fuel assemblies containing a mixture of transuranics (TRU) and plutonium alloyed with zirconium, intended to fission the waste products and actinide material.…”

“…Given that the technological readiness of HALEU-based systems is continually advancing, and that multiple construction permits of HALEU-based reactors have been submitted, the NRC must be prepared with the tools, retained knowledge, and technical basis for performing independent criticality analyses of HALEU-based systems. Tool readiness has been demonstrated [9,10], whereas DNCSH aims to expand the technical basis to support criticality evaluations, primarily through the necessary aspect of validation. To assess the status of the available critical experiments in support of validation, the work documented in this report was performed as a measure of critical experiment applicability for 20 wt% 235 U metallic SFR fuel slugs placed within the ES-3100.…”

SCALE Demonstration for Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Analysis

“…The SCALE code system, developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is used for radionuclide characterization, criticality analyses, and shielding analyses, whereas the MELCOR code, developed by Sandia National Laboratories, performs severe accident-progression and source-term analyses for accident scenarios using the nuclide inventories and decay heat generated by SCALE. The modeling and simulation capabilities of these codes for non-LWRs have been demonstrated, including for heat pipe reactors (Walker et al 2021;Wagner, Faucett, et al 2022), high-temperature pebble-bed gas-cooled reactors Skutnik and Wieselquist 2021), fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactors (Bostelmann et al 2022;Wagner, Haskin, et al 2022), molten-salt-fueled reactors (Lo et al 2022;, and sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) (Shaw et al 2023;.…”