EMBEDDED SELF-SHIELDING METHOD APPLIED TO DOUBLY HETEROGENEOUS FULLY CERAMIC MICRO-ENCAPSULATED FUELS

摘要

This research focuses on the development of a new fast and robust lattice physics methodology for modeling and simulation of doubly heterogeneous (DH) nuclear fuels containing tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated fuel particles and fully ceramic micro-encapsulated (FCM) fuel. The specific aims of this study are to determine if existing complex methods for DH calculations can be integrated with the Embedded Self-Shielding Method (ESSM) developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL. New ESSM methodologies for the DH resonance self-shielding calculation have been developed using the Sanchez and Pomraning's method. These methodologies have been incorporated into a transport lattice code based on method of characteristics (MOC) for spatial discretization. Benchmark problems including reference solutions have been developed to validate new DH lattice physics methodology. Benchmark results show that new DH capability for resonance self-shielding and eigenvalue calculations is working reasonably.