Thermal-hydraulic two-phase modeling of reactivity-initiated transients with CATHARE2 – Application to SPERT-IV simulation

Labit, J.-M.; Seiler, Nathalie; Clamens, O.; Merle, E.

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111310

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

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“…Energies 2022, 15, 1554 2 of 20 Efforts have been made towards safety analysis in research reactors, such as the use of Technique for systems with limited data [5], the description of small cores with thermohydraulic codes of systems/subchannels coupled with neutron diffusion codes [6], and more recently, in 2016 and 2021, some authors started to study the application of Monte Carlo codes coupled with thermohydraulic codes to investigate individual MTR fuel assemblies or representative MTR channel geometries [4,7]. At KIT, investigations are underway to modify the high-fidelity multi-physics coupled codes, e.g., Serpent2/Subchanflow, developed for power reactors within the European H2020 McSAFE project [8], for safety evaluations of research reactors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Fidelity Steady-State and Transient Simulations of an MTR Research Reactor Using Serpent2/Subchanflow

2022

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In order to join efforts to develop high-fidelity multi-physics tools for research reactor analysis, the KIT is conducting studies to modify the coupled multi-physics codes developed for power reactors. The coupled system uses the Monte Carlo Serpent 2 code for neutron analysis and the Subchanflow code for thermo-hydraulic analysis. Serpent treats temperature dependence using the target motion sampling method and Subchanflow was previously extended and validated with experimental data for plate-type reactor analysis. This work present for the first time the steady-state and transient neutron and thermo-hydraulic analysis of an MTR core defined in the IAEA 10 MW benchmark using Serpent2/Subchanflow. Important global and local parameters for nominal steady-state conditions were obtained, e.g., the lowest and highest core plate/channel power/temperature, the radial and axial core power profile at the plate level, and the core coolant temperature distribution at the subchannel level. The capabilities of serpent2/Subchanflow to perform transient analysis with on-the-fly motion of the control plates were tested, namely with fast and slow reactivity insertion. Based on the unique results obtained for the first time at the subchannel and plate level, it can be stated that the coupled Serpent2/Subchanflow code is a very promising tool for research reactor safety-related investigations.

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