TIME-DEPENDENT HOMOGENIZATION FOR PRESSURIZED HEAVY-WATER REACTORS

Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science, Ontario Tech University 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada L1G 0C5

peter.schwanke@ontariotechu.ca
eleodor.nichita@ontariotechu.ca

Published online: 22 February 2021

Abstract

A new time-dependent homogenization approach that accounts for inter-assembly leakage has recently been proposed. The new technique extends Generalized Equivalence Theory (GET) to transient simulations through the use of time-dependent, leakage-corrected discontinuity factors that are calculated at each time step by means of a global-local iterative approach to account for the effect of neighbouring nodes so that highly heterogeneous cores are more accurately modelled than when employing single-node, zero-node-boundary-current Assembly Discontinuity Factors (ADFs). The technique has been previously tested for a one-dimensional, two-energy-group, BWR-like benchmark. The present work expands the analysis to a one-dimensional, two-energy-group, Pressurized Heavy-Water Reactor (PHWR) configuration. The PHWR configuration consists of 22 fuel nodes bounded on either side by two nodes of heavy-water (D₂O) reflector. Each fuel node spans 28.575 cm and is a one-dimensional stylized representation of a 37-element, natural uranium fuel bundle with D₂O coolant residing in a pressure tube that in turn resides in a calandria tube surrounded by D₂O moderator. A simple transient induced by instantaneous half-core voiding of the D₂O coolant is studied. Three types of calculations are performed: A reference, heterogeneous-node, fine-mesh calculation, a standardly-homogenized-node calculation and a GET-homogenized-node (using ADFs) calculation. The root-mean-square percent errors introduced by standard homogenization and ADF-based homogenization for kinetics calculations in PHWR cores are found to be 4% and 5%, respectively, after 0.5 s. This suggests that the use of a time-dependent homogenization method is desirable, and its use is shown to reduce the RMS errors to a maximum of 0.003% over the course of the transient. The conclusion is that although PHWR cores are not extremely heterogeneous, the accuracy of transient modelling for PHWRs is improved when using time-dependent homogenization over conventional ADFs and that the newly-developed time-dependent homogenization method promises to offer substantial improvements in accuracy for transient results with particular relevance to safety analyses.