Initial Validation Measurements to Support the Neutronics Modeling, Simulation, and V&V Upgrade for the Advanced Test Reactor

摘要

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has initiated a focused effort to upgrade legacy computational reactor physics software tools and protocols used for support of Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) core fuel management and experiment management, through the introduction of modern high-fidelity computational software and protocols, with appropriate V&V, within the next 2-3 years. A suite of stochastic and deterministic transport theory based reactor physics codes and their supporting nuclear data libraries (SCALEfl], KENO-6[2], HELIOS[3], NEWT[4], ATTILA[5], and MCNP[6]), along with corresponding baseline models of the ATR and its companion critical facility (ATRC) is now operational. Furthermore, a capability for rigorous sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification based on the TSUNAMI[7] system is being implemented and initial computational results have been obtained. On the experimental side, the first of several planned sets of benchmark-quality code validation measurements based on neutron activation spectrometry have been conducted at the ATRC. Some initial results of these new measurements are reported here.