Reactivity Monitoring of Accelerator-Driven Nuclear Reactor Systems

190 Pages·2015·9.27 MB·English

by  Wim Uyttenhove

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ISBN 978-94-6295-440-3
MONDAY JANUARY 4, 2016
Senaatszaal,
Aula of TU Delft,
Mekelweg 5,
W Delft - The Netherlands
im
U
y 14:30 Introductory talk
tte 15:00 Thesis defense
n Wim Uyttenhove
h
o
v
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Wim Uyttenhove
Department of Radiation Science and Technology
More information on
www.thebindingenergy.com/phd
TBE - Cover Doctoraat-DEF.indd 1 16/12/15 10:02
TBE - Doctoraat uitnodiging.indd 1 15/12/15 20:01
Reactivity Monitoring
of Accelerator-Driven
Nuclear Reactor Systems

Reactivity Monitoring
of Accelerator-Driven
Nuclear Reactor Systems
Proefschrift
terverkrijgingvandegraadvandoctor
aandeTechnischeUniverstiteitDelft,
opgezagvandeRectorMagnificusProf.ir.K.C.A.M.Luyben,
voorzittervanhetCollegevoorPromoties,
inhetopenbaarteverdedigen
opmaandag4januari2016om15:00uur
door
WimUYTTENHOVE
Nucleairenwerktuigkundig-elektrotechnischingenieur,UniversiteitGent,België
geborenteGentop9december1980
Ditproefschriftisgoedgekeurddoordepromotor:
Prof.dr.ir.T.H.J.JvanderHagen
Samenstellingpromotiecommissie:
RectorMagnificus, voorzitter
Prof.dr.ir.T.H.J.JvanderHagen, TechnischeUniversiteitDelft,promotor
dr.ir.D. Lathouwers, TechnischeUniversiteitDelft,copromotor
Prof.dr. H.vanderGraaf, TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Prof.dr.S.Roeser, TechnischeUniversiteitDelft
Prof.dr.P.Désesquelles, UniversitéParis-Sud
Prof.dr.ir.W.D’Haeseleer, KULeuven
dr.ir.P.Baeten, SCK•CEN,VrijeUniversiteitBrussel
Prof. dr. ir. J.-L.Kloosterman(TechnischeUniversiteitDelft)endr. ir. G.Vanden
Eynde(SCK•CEN,UniversiteitHasselt)hebbeneenbelangrijkebijdragegeleverd
indebegeleidingenondersteuningvandezethesis.
©2016,WimUyttenhove
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutpriorpermission
fromthecopyrightowner.
ISBN978-94-6295-440-3
Keywords: nuclear,accelerator-drivensystems,reactivity,reactorphysics,experi-
ments,modalanalysis,VENUS,MYRRHA
The research described in this thesis was performed in the section Physics of
NuclearReactors(PNR),ofthedepartmentRadiation,Radionuclides&Reactors
(R3),oftheDelftUniversityofTechnology,Delft,TheNetherlands.
Theresearchdescribedinthisthesiswas(financially)supportedbytheBelgian
NuclearResearchCentre(SCK•CEN)andbytheGUINEVEREandFREYAprojects
withinthe6thand7thFrameworkProgramoftheEuropeanCommission.
PrintedbyProefschriftmaken.nl||UitgeverijBOXPress,′s-Hertogenbosch,The
Netherlands

Contents
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 ADSPhysicsandTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 MotivationforAccelerator-DrivenSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 SubcriticalityMonitoringTechniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 OngoingADSProjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.5 TheEFIT,MYRRHAandVENUS-FReactorDesigns . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.6 ResearchOutline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2 SpatialEffectsinSubcriticalityMonitoring 33
2.1 ModalAnalysisApproach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.2 Start-upReactivityMonitoringTechniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.3 TheCurrent-To-FluxReactivityMonitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.4 TheSourceJerkInterimReactivityCross-CheckingMethod . . . . . 51
2.5 ObtainingaReferenceSubcriticalityLevel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.6 ExperimentSimulationviatheDALTONDiffusionCode . . . . . . . 57
2.7 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3 ValidationbyExperimentalResultsfromSubcriticalityMeasurements 61
3.1 TheVENUS-FSubcritical‘Reference’State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.2 SubcriticalityMonitoringduringStart-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.3 SubcriticalityMonitoringduringOperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.4 InterimReactivityCross-CheckingTechniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.5 ConclusionandOutlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4 SubcriticalityMonitoringinaPowerADS 103
4.1 SelectedMYRRHASubcriticalCoresforReactivityMonitoring . . . 104
4.2 SubcriticalityMonitoringduringStart-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
vi
Contents
4.3 On-lineSubcriticalityMonitoringduringNormalOperation . . . . 114
4.4 RobustnessoftheReactivityMonitoringagainstIncidentScenarios 123
4.5 Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5 ConclusionsandRecommendations 133
5.1 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.2 Recommendations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
A TheVENUS-FModelsinDALTON 139
A.1 GeometryDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
A.2 CrossSectionGeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
B TheMYRRHAModelinDALTON 145
B.1 GeometryDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
B.2 CrossSectionGeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
C ListofAbbreviations 149
References 151
Summary 165
Samenvatting 169
Acknowledgements 173
ListofPublications 175
CurriculumVitae 181
vii
Contents
viii
1
INTRODUCTION
ForChrist’ssake,Soddy,don’tcallittransmutation.
They’llhaveourheadsoffasalchemists.
ErnestRutherford,tohiscolleagueFrederickSoddy
onthediscoveryoftransmutationofthorium,1901.
Picture:HomerSimpson©FOXBroadcastingCompany
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