Radiation Physics and Engineering
A peer-reviewed journal published by K. N. Toosi University of Technology

Estimation of effective β-fraction of the VVER-1000 reactor in terms of exposure using DRAGON5/DONJON5

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Omid Safarzadeh 1
Farahnaz Saadatian-Derakhshandeh 2

1 Shahed University, P.O. Box: 3319118651, Tehran, Iran

2 Shahid Beheshti University, P.O. Box: 1983969411, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/rpe.2022.322754.1049
Abstract
The effective β-fraction has a key role in the dynamic response of the reactor. This study aims to assess the suitability and accuracy of the detailed models of DRAGON5 and DONJON5 code for estimation of the effective fraction of delayed neutron for the VVER-1000 reactor core. DRAGON5 is adopted to homogenize and condense lattice physics constants of fuel assemblies during fuel burnup, followed by DONJON5, which is used to calculate forward and adjoint flux profiles on the reactor core geometry. A thermal-hydraulic subroutine is developed for VVER-1000 reactor hollow fuel pellets to embody the reactivity feedback raised by changing the reactor power profile. The effective β-fraction is evaluated for each fissile and fertile isotopes in terms of fuel burnup. The results of the coupling scheme are evaluated using the KASKAD code package of Bushehr NPP-I (BNPP-I). The results indicate that the use of SHI and SYBILT modules of DRAGON5 are essential to achieve reasonably precise resolution.

Highlights

• An efficient coupled method of predicting the kinetic parameters is developed.
• The kinetic parameters and fuel consumption are calculated during fuel burn-up.
• A systematic approach of coupled thermo-hydraulic and neutronic is used.
• The results of the coupling scheme are evaluated by KASKAD package.

Keywords

Effective delayed neutron fraction
VVER-1000
burnup
DRAGON5
DONJON5
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Radiation Physics and Engineering
Volume 2, Issue 4
Autumn 2021
Pages 39-46

  • Receive Date 02 January 2022
  • Revise Date 02 February 2022
  • Accept Date 21 February 2022

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