Burnup Calculation Methodology for a Small-Scale Fuel Irradiation Experiment in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)

摘要

This paper has presented early results of depletion calculation efforts for the mini fuel irradiation facility in HFIR. Advances in the depletion methodology are intended to improve computational efficiency by reducing statistical noise and computation time simultaneously. The analog predictor-only scheme suffers from both statistical noise and long computation times. These were addressed by fixing midpoint conditions in the predictor-corrector scheme, but these conditions may not sufficiently represent those over many cycles of irradiation. Results from the methodologies incorporating ADVANTG and Shift are pending. Ultimately, this work is intended to build a framework for use in considering the inclusion of new fuel materials in the mini fuel facility. Given the flexibility of the experimental assembly design, a statistically reliable and computationally efficient means of assessing burnup of potential fuel samples of any given composition and enrichment is highly desirable.