Isotopic discharge concentrations of Tehran research reactor using deterministic and Monte Carlo methods

Khoshahval, Farrokh; Rajaee, Mohammad; Tehrani, Nafiseh

doi:10.22034/rpe.2022.347567.1092

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Reactor and Nuclear Safety Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute (NSTRI), Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/rpe.2022.347567.1092

Abstract

Actinide concentration and activity analysis of the nuclides resulted from the burnup (depletion) process during nuclear reactor operation lifetime is an essential problem in reactor design. Inventory and the corresponding activities of the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) are evaluated using different methods and compared with each other. WIMS-CITATION, ORIGEN, and MCNP codes are used for plate type inventory calculations. The important actinides, fission products, and fissile inventory ratio of TRR have been calculated at different burnup steps. It is worth noting to mention that knowing the value of inventory helps us for safe handling of the spent fuels and to have a perfect design for transport cask of spent fuels. In this paper, the fuel isotope inventories were calculated for the first and 83^rd core configuration of the Tehran Research Reactor, which is named “Core01” and “Core83” respectively. The calculations were first performed using WIMS-D5 and CITATION neutronic codes and then the results are compared with that of ORIGEN and MCNPX code. The total radioactivity of the TRR core at the end of the reactor core life (Core83) is estimated to be 6.47×10⁵ Ci.

Highlights

Fuel isotope inventories were calculated for the first and 83^rdcore configuration of the Tehran Research Reactor.
It is shown that the 94% of the TRU produced during the TRR operation is Pu.
The total radioactivity of the TRR core at the end of the reactor core life (Core83) is estimated to be 6.47×10⁵Ci.

Keywords

20.1001.1.26456397.2023.4.1.6.0

References

Al Zain, J., El Hajjaji, O., and El Bardouni, T. (2018). Calculation of the activity inventory for the MNSR reactor using DRAGON4 code. Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 151:179–185.

Ames II, D. E. (2010). High-fidelity nuclear energy system optimization towards an environmentally benign, sustainable, and secure energy source. Texas A&M University.

Ball, S. and Adams, R. (1967). MATEXP, A general purpose digital computer program for solving ordinary differential equations by the matrix exponential method. Technical Report, Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.

Croff, A. (1980a). ORIGEN 2.1. Isotope Generation and Depletion Code. ORNL/TM-7175, July.

Croff, A. (1980b). ORIGEN2: a revised and updated version of the oak ridge isotope generation and depletion code. Technical report, Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA).

Croff, A. G. (1983). ORIGEN2: a versatile computer code for calculating the nuclide compositions and characteristics of nuclear materials. Nuclear Technology, 62(3):335–352.

Cuvelier, M.-H. (2012). Advanced Fuel Cycle Scenarios with AP1000 PWRs and VHTRs and Fission Spectrum Uncertainties. PhD thesis, Texas A & M University.

DOE, U. (2002).

Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada.

Duderstadt, J. J. and Hamilton, L. J. (1976). Nuclear reactor analysis. Wiley.

Fensin, M. L. (2008). Development of the MCNPX depletion capability: A Monte Carlo linked depletion method that auto-mates the coupling between MCNPX and CINDER90 for high fidelity burnup calculations. University of Florida.

Fowler, T., Vondy, D., and Cunningham, G. (1999). CITATION-LDI2 nuclear reactor core analysis code system. CCC-643, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Halsall, M. (1982). LWR-WIMS, a computer code for light water reactor lattice calculations. Technical report, UKAEA Atomic Energy Establishment.

Hassan, H. H., Ghazi, N., and Hainoun, A. (2008). Analysis of MNSR core composition changes using the codes WIMSD-4 and CITATION. Applied Radiation and Isotopes,

66(10):1492–1500.

Hendricks, J. S., McKinney, G. W., Fensin, M. L., et al. (2008). MCNPX 2.6. 0 Extensions. Los Alamos National Laboratory, page 73.

IAEA (1992). IAEA-TECDOC-643, Research reactor core conversion guidebook, Volume 2: Analysis (Appendices A-F). Technical report, International Atomic Energy Agency.

IAEA (2009). Final Safety Analysis Report of the Tehran Research Reactor. Technical report, International Atomic Energy Agency.

Khattab, K. (2005). Calculations of fuel burn-up and radionuclide inventory in the Syrian miniature neutron source reactor using the WIMSD4 code. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 32(10):1122–1130.

Khoshahval, F. and Davari, A. (2016). Safety requirement assessment of fuel sample test in Tehran research reactor. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 91:208–216.

Kim, T., Taiwo, T., Hill, R., et al. (2005). A feasibility study of reactor-based deep-burn concepts. Technical report, Argonne National Lab.(ANL), Argonne, IL (United States).

Ludwig, S. (1999). ORIGEN2, Version 2.1 (August 1, 1991) Release Notes. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, revised May.

Stammler, R. J. and Abbate, M. J. (1983). Methods of steady-state reactor physics in nuclear design.

Westlén, D. (2007). Why Faster is Better: On Minor Actinide Transmutation in Hard Neutron. PhD thesis, KTH.

Radiation Physics and Engineering

Isotopic discharge concentrations of Tehran research reactor using deterministic and Monte Carlo methods

References

References

Volume 4, Issue 1
January 2023
Pages 39-51

Isotopic discharge concentrations of Tehran research reactor using deterministic and Monte Carlo methods

References

References

Volume 4, Issue 1January 2023Pages 39-51

Volume 4, Issue 1
January 2023
Pages 39-51