Serpent transient analyses of GIACINT geometrical change experiments

Alberto Talamo; Yan Cao; Yousry Gohar; Ville Valtavirta; Jaakko Leppänen; S. Sikorin; S. Mandzik; S. Polazau; T. Hryharovich

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108601

Serpent transient analyses of GIACINT geometrical change experiments

Alberto Talamo^*, Yan Cao, Yousry Gohar, Ville Valtavirta, Jaakko Leppänen, S. Sikorin, S. Mandzik, S. Polazau, T. Hryharovich

^*Corresponding author for this work

BA4501 Reactor analysis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper simulates seven transient experiments with geometrical movements performed at the GIACINT facility of Belarus. These experiments include three slow control rods insertion in more than 25 s, one fast control rod insertion in less than 1 s, and three water moderator draining transients. In the fast control rod insertion experiment, the control rods are first pushed by a mechanical spring and then let fall by gravity in the assembly. In this experiment, the control rods speed varies because of the initial spring force, the gravitational acceleration, and the water buoyancy force. In all other transient experiments, the geometry change occurs with a constant speed. The Serpent computer program was utilized to simulate these transient experiments with geometrical changes by performing two separate computations. One time-independent computation is performed in criticality mode and the other time-dependent computation is performed in dynamic-source mode. The first computation writes the neutron population and delayed neutron precursors for starting the transient simulation. The second computation divides the transient time into several time bins, reads the two files from the first computation, and updates them at the end of each time bin. The Serpent simulation results obtained for this set of experiments are in good agreement with the time dependent experimental measurements. In addition, Serpent and MCNP simulations results show an excellent agreement for the water moderator transient.

Original language	English
Article number	108601
Journal	Annals of Nuclear Energy
Volume	164
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108601
Publication status	Published - 15 Dec 2021
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3). We gratefully acknowledge the computing resources provided on Bebop (https://www.lcrc.anl.gov/systems/resources/bebop/), a high-performance computing cluster operated by the Laboratory Computing Resource Center at Argonne National Laboratory. The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory ("Argonne"). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3).

Keywords

Control rod insertion
Giacint
Serpent
Transient
Water draining

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108601

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title = "Serpent transient analyses of GIACINT geometrical change experiments",

abstract = "This paper simulates seven transient experiments with geometrical movements performed at the GIACINT facility of Belarus. These experiments include three slow control rods insertion in more than 25 s, one fast control rod insertion in less than 1 s, and three water moderator draining transients. In the fast control rod insertion experiment, the control rods are first pushed by a mechanical spring and then let fall by gravity in the assembly. In this experiment, the control rods speed varies because of the initial spring force, the gravitational acceleration, and the water buoyancy force. In all other transient experiments, the geometry change occurs with a constant speed. The Serpent computer program was utilized to simulate these transient experiments with geometrical changes by performing two separate computations. One time-independent computation is performed in criticality mode and the other time-dependent computation is performed in dynamic-source mode. The first computation writes the neutron population and delayed neutron precursors for starting the transient simulation. The second computation divides the transient time into several time bins, reads the two files from the first computation, and updates them at the end of each time bin. The Serpent simulation results obtained for this set of experiments are in good agreement with the time dependent experimental measurements. In addition, Serpent and MCNP simulations results show an excellent agreement for the water moderator transient.",

keywords = "Control rod insertion, Giacint, Serpent, Transient, Water draining",

author = "Alberto Talamo and Yan Cao and Yousry Gohar and Ville Valtavirta and Jaakko Lepp{\"a}nen and S. Sikorin and S. Mandzik and S. Polazau and T. Hryharovich",

note = "Funding Information: This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3). We gratefully acknowledge the computing resources provided on Bebop (https://www.lcrc.anl.gov/systems/resources/bebop/), a high-performance computing cluster operated by the Laboratory Computing Resource Center at Argonne National Laboratory. Funding Information: The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory ({"}Argonne{"}). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. Funding Information: This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021",

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doi = "10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108601",

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T1 - Serpent transient analyses of GIACINT geometrical change experiments

AU - Talamo, Alberto

AU - Cao, Yan

AU - Gohar, Yousry

AU - Valtavirta, Ville

AU - Leppänen, Jaakko

AU - Sikorin, S.

AU - Mandzik, S.

AU - Polazau, S.

AU - Hryharovich, T.

N1 - Funding Information: This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3). We gratefully acknowledge the computing resources provided on Bebop (https://www.lcrc.anl.gov/systems/resources/bebop/), a high-performance computing cluster operated by the Laboratory Computing Resource Center at Argonne National Laboratory. Funding Information: The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory ("Argonne"). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. Funding Information: This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management and Minimization (M3). Publisher Copyright: © 2021

PY - 2021/12/15

Y1 - 2021/12/15

N2 - This paper simulates seven transient experiments with geometrical movements performed at the GIACINT facility of Belarus. These experiments include three slow control rods insertion in more than 25 s, one fast control rod insertion in less than 1 s, and three water moderator draining transients. In the fast control rod insertion experiment, the control rods are first pushed by a mechanical spring and then let fall by gravity in the assembly. In this experiment, the control rods speed varies because of the initial spring force, the gravitational acceleration, and the water buoyancy force. In all other transient experiments, the geometry change occurs with a constant speed. The Serpent computer program was utilized to simulate these transient experiments with geometrical changes by performing two separate computations. One time-independent computation is performed in criticality mode and the other time-dependent computation is performed in dynamic-source mode. The first computation writes the neutron population and delayed neutron precursors for starting the transient simulation. The second computation divides the transient time into several time bins, reads the two files from the first computation, and updates them at the end of each time bin. The Serpent simulation results obtained for this set of experiments are in good agreement with the time dependent experimental measurements. In addition, Serpent and MCNP simulations results show an excellent agreement for the water moderator transient.

AB - This paper simulates seven transient experiments with geometrical movements performed at the GIACINT facility of Belarus. These experiments include three slow control rods insertion in more than 25 s, one fast control rod insertion in less than 1 s, and three water moderator draining transients. In the fast control rod insertion experiment, the control rods are first pushed by a mechanical spring and then let fall by gravity in the assembly. In this experiment, the control rods speed varies because of the initial spring force, the gravitational acceleration, and the water buoyancy force. In all other transient experiments, the geometry change occurs with a constant speed. The Serpent computer program was utilized to simulate these transient experiments with geometrical changes by performing two separate computations. One time-independent computation is performed in criticality mode and the other time-dependent computation is performed in dynamic-source mode. The first computation writes the neutron population and delayed neutron precursors for starting the transient simulation. The second computation divides the transient time into several time bins, reads the two files from the first computation, and updates them at the end of each time bin. The Serpent simulation results obtained for this set of experiments are in good agreement with the time dependent experimental measurements. In addition, Serpent and MCNP simulations results show an excellent agreement for the water moderator transient.

KW - Control rod insertion

KW - Giacint

KW - Serpent

KW - Transient

KW - Water draining

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U2 - 10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108601

DO - 10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108601

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85112533061

SN - 0306-4549

VL - 164

JO - Annals of Nuclear Energy

JF - Annals of Nuclear Energy

M1 - 108601

ER -

Serpent transient analyses of GIACINT geometrical change experiments

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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