EDN: DPMMEU
Authors & Affiliations
Kovalev N.V.1 , Prokoshin A.M.1 , Kudinov A.S.1 , Nevinitsa V.A.2
1 Khlopin Radium Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
2 National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow, Russia
Kovalev N.V. – Researcher. Contacts: 28, 2nd Murinsky pr-t, St. Petersburg, Russia, 194021. Tel.: +7 (812) 346-90-29; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Prokoshin A.M. – Lead Engineer.
Kudinov A.S. – Department Director, Cand. Sci. (Tech.).
Nevinitsa V.A. – Department Director, Cand. Sci. (Tech.).
Abstract
Correct assessment of the spent fuel nuclide composition is very important in the field of the final stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. However, nuclear physics modeling of a reactor full core is a rather complex and time-consuming task. The purpose of the study is to research how the results of the calculated nuclide composition of the unloaded spent fuel of a VVER 1000 reactor, operated in an 18-month fuel cycle, differ when using a core model from a simple model of an infinite fuel assembly. The simulation was carried out using the Serpent 2 software that implements the Monte-Carlo method. As a result of the verification, the created full core model showed good agreement with the reference values for the main neutron-physical characteristics. It was determined that the average burnup of unloaded fuel assemblies is 50.74 MW·day/kgHM. The nuclide composition of the unloaded SNF was obtained. The article presents the elemental composition of spent fuel, as well as the isotopes that make the main contribution to the dose rate from alpha-, beta- and gamma-radiation. In order to increase the speed of such calculations, a model of an infinite fuel assembly has been developed. The effective enrichment was selected in accordance with the results obtained from the core model. Comparison of the composition of unloaded spent fuel using an infinite fuel assembly model showed good agreement with the composition obtained using a full core model. We can recommend using a simplified version of calculating the nuclide composition based on the model of an infinite fuel assembly.
Keywords
nuclear physics modeling, Monte-Carlo method, Serpent, nuclide composition calculation, spent nuclear fuel (SNF), verification, infinite fuel assembly model, core model
Article Text (PDF, in Russian)
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UDC 621.039.5
Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants, 2024, no. 1, 1:3
