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Fuel cycle depletion validation and code-to-code verification studies for High Flux Isotope Reactor highly and low-enriched uranium fuel designs

by David Chandler, Jin Whan Bae, Benjamin Betzler, Donny Hartanto, Charles Daily
Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Annals of Nuclear Energy
Publication Date
Page Number
109895
Volume
190
Issue
190

This paper documents fuel cycle depletion validation and code-to-code verification studies for the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) highly enriched uranium (HEU) and proposed low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel designs. In support of HFIR’s world-leading performance, transport and depletion simulations are performed to ensure safe operations, design and qualify irradiation experiments, enhance core components and irradiation facilities, and design and characterize LEU fuel designs. Identifying well-validated, computationally efficient codes is required for the success of these efforts. The HFIR Controller, Shift, and VESTA codes were deployed to simulate HEU uranium–oxide dispersion fuel cycles at 85, 95, and 100 MW operations, as well as LEU fuel cycles operating at 95 MW with uranium–silicide dispersion and uranium–molybdenum monolithic alloy fuel forms. Excellent agreement between the codes and with experimentally obtained 235U enrichment distributions provides increased confidence in the ability of these codes to model and simulate HFIR’s unique core design.