Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code

<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Time and precision of the results are the most important factors in any code used for nuclear calculations. Despite of the high accuracy of Monte Carlo codes, MCNP and Serpent, in ma...

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Main Authors: Ahmed Amin El Said Abd El Hameed, Mohamed Nagy, Hanaa Abou-Gabal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academy Publishing Center 2015-08-01
Series:Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development
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Online Access:http://apc.aast.edu/ojs/index.php/RESD/article/view/13
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author Ahmed Amin El Said Abd El Hameed
Mohamed Nagy
Hanaa Abou-Gabal
author_facet Ahmed Amin El Said Abd El Hameed
Mohamed Nagy
Hanaa Abou-Gabal
author_sort Ahmed Amin El Said Abd El Hameed
collection DOAJ
description <p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Time and precision of the results are the most important factors in any code used for nuclear calculations. Despite of the high accuracy of Monte Carlo codes, MCNP and Serpent, in many cases their relatively long computational time leads to difficulties in using any of them as the main calculation code. Usually, Monte Carlo codes are used only to benchmark the results. The deterministic codes, which are usually used in nuclear reactor’s calculations, have limited precision, due to the approximations in the methods used to solve the multi-group transport equation. Self- Shielding treatment, an algorithm that produces an average cross-section defined over the complete energy domain of the neutrons in a nuclear reactor, is responsible for the biggest error in any deterministic codes. There are mainly two resonance self-shielding models commonly applied: models based on equivalence and dilution and models based on subgroup approach. The fundamental problem with any self-shielding method is that it treats any isotope as there are no other isotopes with resonance present in the reactor. The most practical way to solve this problem is to use multi-energy groups (50-200) that are chosen in a way that allows us to use all major resonances without self-shielding. In this paper, we perform cell calculations, for a fresh seed fuel pin which is used in thorium/uranium reactors, by solving 172 energy group transport equation using the deterministic DRAGON code, for the two types of self-shielding models (equivalence and dilution models and subgroup models) Using WIMS-D5 and DRAGON data libraries. The results are then tested by comparing it with the stochastic MCNP5 code.  We also tested the sensitivity of the results to a specific change in self-shielding method implemented, for example the effect of applying Livolant-Jeanpierre Normalization scheme and Rimman Integration improvement on the equivalence and dilution method, and the effect of using Ribbon extended approach on sub-group method.  The results of K</span><sub><span style="font-size: small;">inf</span></sub><span style="font-size: medium;">, in case of fresh seed fuel pin which is used in thorium/uranium PWR, show that a high accuracy is obtained by using some specific self-shielding modules.  It is also shown that for the implemented self-shielding models DRAGON library is more reliable than WIMS-D5 library, and that applying Livolant-Jeanpierre Normalization scheme is essential with the equivalence and dilution self-shielding method.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 10.1pt -0.25pt;"> </p>
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spelling doaj-art-20c521a916654a068bc225c8bc00ed172025-08-20T02:36:16ZengAcademy Publishing CenterRenewable Energy and Sustainable Development2356-85182356-85692015-08-011121422310.21622/resd.2015.01.1.21418Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon CodeAhmed Amin El Said Abd El HameedMohamed NagyHanaa Abou-Gabal<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Time and precision of the results are the most important factors in any code used for nuclear calculations. Despite of the high accuracy of Monte Carlo codes, MCNP and Serpent, in many cases their relatively long computational time leads to difficulties in using any of them as the main calculation code. Usually, Monte Carlo codes are used only to benchmark the results. The deterministic codes, which are usually used in nuclear reactor’s calculations, have limited precision, due to the approximations in the methods used to solve the multi-group transport equation. Self- Shielding treatment, an algorithm that produces an average cross-section defined over the complete energy domain of the neutrons in a nuclear reactor, is responsible for the biggest error in any deterministic codes. There are mainly two resonance self-shielding models commonly applied: models based on equivalence and dilution and models based on subgroup approach. The fundamental problem with any self-shielding method is that it treats any isotope as there are no other isotopes with resonance present in the reactor. The most practical way to solve this problem is to use multi-energy groups (50-200) that are chosen in a way that allows us to use all major resonances without self-shielding. In this paper, we perform cell calculations, for a fresh seed fuel pin which is used in thorium/uranium reactors, by solving 172 energy group transport equation using the deterministic DRAGON code, for the two types of self-shielding models (equivalence and dilution models and subgroup models) Using WIMS-D5 and DRAGON data libraries. The results are then tested by comparing it with the stochastic MCNP5 code.  We also tested the sensitivity of the results to a specific change in self-shielding method implemented, for example the effect of applying Livolant-Jeanpierre Normalization scheme and Rimman Integration improvement on the equivalence and dilution method, and the effect of using Ribbon extended approach on sub-group method.  The results of K</span><sub><span style="font-size: small;">inf</span></sub><span style="font-size: medium;">, in case of fresh seed fuel pin which is used in thorium/uranium PWR, show that a high accuracy is obtained by using some specific self-shielding modules.  It is also shown that for the implemented self-shielding models DRAGON library is more reliable than WIMS-D5 library, and that applying Livolant-Jeanpierre Normalization scheme is essential with the equivalence and dilution self-shielding method.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 10.1pt -0.25pt;"> </p>http://apc.aast.edu/ojs/index.php/RESD/article/view/13nuclear cell calculationself-shielding treatmentprecision of nuclear deterministic codes
spellingShingle Ahmed Amin El Said Abd El Hameed
Mohamed Nagy
Hanaa Abou-Gabal
Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code
Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development
nuclear cell calculation
self-shielding treatment
precision of nuclear deterministic codes
title Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code
title_full Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code
title_fullStr Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code
title_full_unstemmed Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code
title_short Self-Shielding Treatment to Perform Cell Calculation for Seed Furl In Th/U Pwr Using Dragon Code
title_sort self shielding treatment to perform cell calculation for seed furl in th u pwr using dragon code
topic nuclear cell calculation
self-shielding treatment
precision of nuclear deterministic codes
url http://apc.aast.edu/ojs/index.php/RESD/article/view/13
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AT hanaaabougabal selfshieldingtreatmenttoperformcellcalculationforseedfurlinthupwrusingdragoncode