REGAL International Program: Analysis of experimental data for depletion code validation

Jan Eysermans; Marc Verwerft; Kevin Govers; Raphaelle Ichou; Germina Ilas; Ugur Meryturek; Nadia Messaoudi; Pablo Romojaro; Nicolas Slosse

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621

REGAL International Program: Analysis of experimental data for depletion code validation

Jan Eysermans, Marc Verwerft, Kevin Govers, Raphaelle Ichou, Germina Ilas, Ugur Meryturek, Nadia Messaoudi, Pablo Romojaro, Nicolas Slosse

Research output › peer-review

Abstract

The Rod-Extremity and Gadolinia AnaLysis (REGAL) Program is a joint international effort to expand the nuclide inventory experimental data for irradiated nuclear fuel, with a specific focus on addressing two challenging needs associated with the characterization of modern, high duty, nuclear fuel. The first challenge is filling the gaps in experimental nuclide inventory data for gadolinia (UO2–Gd2O3) fuel rods. The huge absorption cross sections of Gd-155 and Gd-157 in the Gd dopant in these rods lead to atypical spatial self-shielding patterns and have an impact on the neutronic environment within the fuel assembly compared to regular UO2 fuel rods. The second challenge is investigating the impact of burnup gradients at rod extremities on fuel composition and neutron leakage, to provide relevant experimental data for assessing computational capabilities to model such impact. A benchmark has been defined as a first step in the development of best-estimate models in the preliminary phase of the experimental data evaluation. Comparison of experimental results obtained in Phase I of the program for two measured pressurized water reactor (PWR) samples, one UO2 and one UO2–Gd2O3 sample, with calculated results obtained with different computational tools based on the defined benchmark are presented and discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	109057
Pages (from-to)	1-11
Number of pages	11
Journal	Annals of nuclear energy
Volume	172
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109057 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110607
State	Published - 22 Mar 2022

Access to Document

10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621License: Unspecified
10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109057License: Unspecified
10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110607License: Unspecified

Cite this

Eysermans, J., Verwerft, M., Govers, K., Ichou, R., Ilas, G., Meryturek, U., Messaoudi, N., Romojaro, P., & Slosse, N. (2022). REGAL International Program: Analysis of experimental data for depletion code validation. Annals of nuclear energy, 172, 1-11. Article 109057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109057, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110607

@article{7924758134e742aabd3dd66112153e6d,

title = "REGAL International Program: Analysis of experimental data for depletion code validation",

abstract = "The Rod-Extremity and Gadolinia AnaLysis (REGAL) Program is a joint international effort to expand the nuclide inventory experimental data for irradiated nuclear fuel, with a specific focus on addressing two challenging needs associated with the characterization of modern, high duty, nuclear fuel. The first challenge is filling the gaps in experimental nuclide inventory data for gadolinia (UO2–Gd2O3) fuel rods. The huge absorption cross sections of Gd-155 and Gd-157 in the Gd dopant in these rods lead to atypical spatial self-shielding patterns and have an impact on the neutronic environment within the fuel assembly compared to regular UO2 fuel rods. The second challenge is investigating the impact of burnup gradients at rod extremities on fuel composition and neutron leakage, to provide relevant experimental data for assessing computational capabilities to model such impact. A benchmark has been defined as a first step in the development of best-estimate models in the preliminary phase of the experimental data evaluation. Comparison of experimental results obtained in Phase I of the program for two measured pressurized water reactor (PWR) samples, one UO2 and one UO2–Gd2O3 sample, with calculated results obtained with different computational tools based on the defined benchmark are presented and discussed.",

keywords = "Reactor Physics, Depletion, Predictive modeling, Gadolinia fuel",

author = "Jan Eysermans and Marc Verwerft and Kevin Govers and Raphaelle Ichou and Germina Ilas and Ugur Meryturek and Nadia Messaoudi and Pablo Romojaro and Nicolas Slosse",

note = "Score=10",

year = "2022",

month = mar,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621",

language = "English",

volume = "172",

pages = "1--11",

journal = "Annals of nuclear energy",

issn = "0306-4549",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

Eysermans, J, Verwerft, M, Govers, K, Ichou, R, Ilas, G, Meryturek, U, Messaoudi, N , Romojaro, P & Slosse, N 2022, 'REGAL International Program: Analysis of experimental data for depletion code validation', Annals of nuclear energy, vol. 172, 109057, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109057, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110607

TY - JOUR

T1 - REGAL International Program: Analysis of experimental data for depletion code validation

AU - Eysermans, Jan

AU - Verwerft, Marc

AU - Govers, Kevin

AU - Ichou, Raphaelle

AU - Ilas, Germina

AU - Meryturek, Ugur

AU - Messaoudi, Nadia

AU - Romojaro, Pablo

AU - Slosse, Nicolas

N1 - Score=10

PY - 2022/3/22

Y1 - 2022/3/22

N2 - The Rod-Extremity and Gadolinia AnaLysis (REGAL) Program is a joint international effort to expand the nuclide inventory experimental data for irradiated nuclear fuel, with a specific focus on addressing two challenging needs associated with the characterization of modern, high duty, nuclear fuel. The first challenge is filling the gaps in experimental nuclide inventory data for gadolinia (UO2–Gd2O3) fuel rods. The huge absorption cross sections of Gd-155 and Gd-157 in the Gd dopant in these rods lead to atypical spatial self-shielding patterns and have an impact on the neutronic environment within the fuel assembly compared to regular UO2 fuel rods. The second challenge is investigating the impact of burnup gradients at rod extremities on fuel composition and neutron leakage, to provide relevant experimental data for assessing computational capabilities to model such impact. A benchmark has been defined as a first step in the development of best-estimate models in the preliminary phase of the experimental data evaluation. Comparison of experimental results obtained in Phase I of the program for two measured pressurized water reactor (PWR) samples, one UO2 and one UO2–Gd2O3 sample, with calculated results obtained with different computational tools based on the defined benchmark are presented and discussed.

AB - The Rod-Extremity and Gadolinia AnaLysis (REGAL) Program is a joint international effort to expand the nuclide inventory experimental data for irradiated nuclear fuel, with a specific focus on addressing two challenging needs associated with the characterization of modern, high duty, nuclear fuel. The first challenge is filling the gaps in experimental nuclide inventory data for gadolinia (UO2–Gd2O3) fuel rods. The huge absorption cross sections of Gd-155 and Gd-157 in the Gd dopant in these rods lead to atypical spatial self-shielding patterns and have an impact on the neutronic environment within the fuel assembly compared to regular UO2 fuel rods. The second challenge is investigating the impact of burnup gradients at rod extremities on fuel composition and neutron leakage, to provide relevant experimental data for assessing computational capabilities to model such impact. A benchmark has been defined as a first step in the development of best-estimate models in the preliminary phase of the experimental data evaluation. Comparison of experimental results obtained in Phase I of the program for two measured pressurized water reactor (PWR) samples, one UO2 and one UO2–Gd2O3 sample, with calculated results obtained with different computational tools based on the defined benchmark are presented and discussed.

KW - Reactor Physics

KW - Depletion

KW - Predictive modeling

KW - Gadolinia fuel

UR - https://ecm.sckcen.be/OTCS/llisapi.dll/open/48500272

U2 - 10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621

DO - 10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110621

M3 - Article

SN - 0306-4549

VL - 172

SP - 1

EP - 11

JO - Annals of nuclear energy

JF - Annals of nuclear energy

M1 - 109057

ER -