Corrections to the Nd method of evaluation of burnup for the PIE samples from Mihama-3 and Genkai-1 reactors

Suyama, Kenya; Mochizuki, Hiroki*

The value of the burnup is one of the most important parameters of samples taken by post irradiation examination (PIE). In this study, concerning the PIE data from Mihama-3 and Genkai-1 PWRs, which were taken at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, the burnup values of the PIE samples were re-evaluated and the PIE data are re-analyzed using SWAT and SWAT2 code systems with JENDL-3.3 library. This analysis concludes that the burnup values of samples from Mihama-3 and Genkai-1 PWRs should be corrected of 2-3%. The effect of re-evaluation of the burnup value on the neutron multiplication factor is approximately 1% for PIE samples having the burnup of larger than 30 GWd/t. Comparison between calculation results using a single pin cell model and an assembly model is carried out. Because the both results agreed within a few percents, we concluded that the single pin cell model is suitable for the analysis of PIE samples and the underestimation of plutonium isotopes does not result from the geometry model.