Estimate of the reactivity of the VENUS-F subcritical configuration using a Monte Carlo MSM method

Jean-Luc Lecouey; Nathalie Marie; Gilles M. Ban; Giancarlo Bianchini; Annick Billebaud; Mario Carta; Sébastien Chabod; Valentina Fabrizio; Anatoly Kochetkov; François-Rene Lecolley; Grégory Lehaut; Frédéric Mellier; Henry Emmanuel Thyébault; Wim Uyttenhove; Chris Van Grieken; Guido Vittiglio

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010

Estimate of the reactivity of the VENUS-F subcritical configuration using a Monte Carlo MSM method

Jean-Luc Lecouey, Nathalie Marie, Gilles M. Ban, Giancarlo Bianchini, Annick Billebaud, Mario Carta, Sébastien Chabod, Valentina Fabrizio, Anatoly Kochetkov, François-Rene Lecolley, Grégory Lehaut, Frédéric Mellier, Henry Emmanuel Thyébault, Wim Uyttenhove, Chris Van Grieken, Guido Vittiglio

Research output › peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The GUINEVERE project was launched in 2006 in order to study the feasibility of transmutation in Accelerator Driven subcritical Systems (ADS). This facility, hosted at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center SCK·CEN, couples the fast subcritical lead reactor VENUS-F with an external neutron source provided by the GENEPI-3C accelerator. In order to test on-line subcriticality monitoring techniques, an independent measurement of the reactivity of VENUS-F was achieved using the Modified Source Multiplication Method (MSM). The unknown reactivity of the subcritical configuration of interest was determined by comparing detector count rates driven by an external neutron source in this configuration with those obtained in a slightly subcritical configuration whose reactivity was determined by rod drop experiments. To account for spatial effects, MSM correction factors were calculated for all the detectors using the Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCNP. The corrected reactivity values of all the detectors were found to be consistent. This led to a final estimate of -5.28 ± 0.13 $ for the reactivity of VENUS-F. The MSM factors calculated with MCNP were found to be insensitive to the assumptions made for modeling the reactor and the detectors. Thus the MSM method appears to be a robust technique for measuring large subcriticality values with good accuracy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	65-75
Number of pages	11
Journal	Annals of nuclear energy
Volume	83
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010
State	Published - 1 Sep 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear Energy and Engineering

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10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306454915002005?pes=vorLicense: Unspecified

Cite this

Lecouey, J.-L., Marie, N., Ban, G. M., Bianchini, G., Billebaud, A., Carta, M., Chabod, S., Fabrizio, V., Kochetkov, A., Lecolley, F.-R., Lehaut, G., Mellier, F., Thyébault, H. E., Uyttenhove, W., Van Grieken, C., & Vittiglio, G. (2015). Estimate of the reactivity of the VENUS-F subcritical configuration using a Monte Carlo MSM method. Annals of nuclear energy, 83, 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010

@article{9eeb94d405fd4a9caddfdbd0c2f0a3ad,

title = "Estimate of the reactivity of the VENUS-F subcritical configuration using a Monte Carlo MSM method",

abstract = "The GUINEVERE project was launched in 2006 in order to study the feasibility of transmutation in Accelerator Driven subcritical Systems (ADS). This facility, hosted at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center SCK·CEN, couples the fast subcritical lead reactor VENUS-F with an external neutron source provided by the GENEPI-3C accelerator. In order to test on-line subcriticality monitoring techniques, an independent measurement of the reactivity of VENUS-F was achieved using the Modified Source Multiplication Method (MSM). The unknown reactivity of the subcritical configuration of interest was determined by comparing detector count rates driven by an external neutron source in this configuration with those obtained in a slightly subcritical configuration whose reactivity was determined by rod drop experiments. To account for spatial effects, MSM correction factors were calculated for all the detectors using the Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCNP. The corrected reactivity values of all the detectors were found to be consistent. This led to a final estimate of -5.28 ± 0.13 $ for the reactivity of VENUS-F. The MSM factors calculated with MCNP were found to be insensitive to the assumptions made for modeling the reactor and the detectors. Thus the MSM method appears to be a robust technique for measuring large subcriticality values with good accuracy.",

keywords = "ADS, ASM, MSM, Reactivity measurement, Rod drop, Subcritical",

author = "Jean-Luc Lecouey and Nathalie Marie and Ban, {Gilles M.} and Giancarlo Bianchini and Annick Billebaud and Mario Carta and S{\'e}bastien Chabod and Valentina Fabrizio and Anatoly Kochetkov and Fran{\c c}ois-Rene Lecolley and Gr{\'e}gory Lehaut and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Mellier and Thy{\'e}bault, {Henry Emmanuel} and Wim Uyttenhove and {Van Grieken}, Chris and Guido Vittiglio",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Elsevier Ltd.",

year = "2015",

month = sep,

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doi = "10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010",

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Lecouey, J-L, Marie, N, Ban, GM, Bianchini, G, Billebaud, A, Carta, M, Chabod, S, Fabrizio, V, Kochetkov, A, Lecolley, F-R, Lehaut, G, Mellier, F, Thyébault, HE, Uyttenhove, W , Van Grieken, C & Vittiglio, G 2015, 'Estimate of the reactivity of the VENUS-F subcritical configuration using a Monte Carlo MSM method', Annals of nuclear energy, vol. 83, pp. 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010

TY - JOUR

T1 - Estimate of the reactivity of the VENUS-F subcritical configuration using a Monte Carlo MSM method

AU - Lecouey, Jean-Luc

AU - Marie, Nathalie

AU - Ban, Gilles M.

AU - Bianchini, Giancarlo

AU - Billebaud, Annick

AU - Carta, Mario

AU - Chabod, Sébastien

AU - Fabrizio, Valentina

AU - Kochetkov, Anatoly

AU - Lecolley, François-Rene

AU - Lehaut, Grégory

AU - Mellier, Frédéric

AU - Thyébault, Henry Emmanuel

AU - Uyttenhove, Wim

AU - Van Grieken, Chris

AU - Vittiglio, Guido

PY - 2015/9/1

Y1 - 2015/9/1

N2 - The GUINEVERE project was launched in 2006 in order to study the feasibility of transmutation in Accelerator Driven subcritical Systems (ADS). This facility, hosted at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center SCK·CEN, couples the fast subcritical lead reactor VENUS-F with an external neutron source provided by the GENEPI-3C accelerator. In order to test on-line subcriticality monitoring techniques, an independent measurement of the reactivity of VENUS-F was achieved using the Modified Source Multiplication Method (MSM). The unknown reactivity of the subcritical configuration of interest was determined by comparing detector count rates driven by an external neutron source in this configuration with those obtained in a slightly subcritical configuration whose reactivity was determined by rod drop experiments. To account for spatial effects, MSM correction factors were calculated for all the detectors using the Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCNP. The corrected reactivity values of all the detectors were found to be consistent. This led to a final estimate of -5.28 ± 0.13 $ for the reactivity of VENUS-F. The MSM factors calculated with MCNP were found to be insensitive to the assumptions made for modeling the reactor and the detectors. Thus the MSM method appears to be a robust technique for measuring large subcriticality values with good accuracy.

AB - The GUINEVERE project was launched in 2006 in order to study the feasibility of transmutation in Accelerator Driven subcritical Systems (ADS). This facility, hosted at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center SCK·CEN, couples the fast subcritical lead reactor VENUS-F with an external neutron source provided by the GENEPI-3C accelerator. In order to test on-line subcriticality monitoring techniques, an independent measurement of the reactivity of VENUS-F was achieved using the Modified Source Multiplication Method (MSM). The unknown reactivity of the subcritical configuration of interest was determined by comparing detector count rates driven by an external neutron source in this configuration with those obtained in a slightly subcritical configuration whose reactivity was determined by rod drop experiments. To account for spatial effects, MSM correction factors were calculated for all the detectors using the Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCNP. The corrected reactivity values of all the detectors were found to be consistent. This led to a final estimate of -5.28 ± 0.13 $ for the reactivity of VENUS-F. The MSM factors calculated with MCNP were found to be insensitive to the assumptions made for modeling the reactor and the detectors. Thus the MSM method appears to be a robust technique for measuring large subcriticality values with good accuracy.

KW - ADS

KW - ASM

KW - MSM

KW - Reactivity measurement

KW - Rod drop

KW - Subcritical

U2 - 10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010

DO - 10.1016/j.anucene.2015.04.010

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84928485460

SN - 0306-4549

VL - 83

SP - 65

EP - 75

JO - Annals of nuclear energy

JF - Annals of nuclear energy

ER -