Development of the versatile reactor analysis code system, MARBLE3

Yokoyama, Kenji; Hazama, Taira; Taninaka, Hiroshi; Oki, Shigeo

JAEA-Data/Code 2024-007, 41 Pages, 2024/10

JAEA-Data-Code-2024-007.pdf:1.1MB

The third version of the versatile reactor analysis code system, MARBLE3, has been developed. In the development of the former version of MARBLE, object-oriented scripting language Python (Python2) had been used and then the latest version of Python (Python3) was released. However, due to its backward incompatibility, MARBLE no longer worked with Python3. For this reason, MARBLE3 has been fully modified and maintained to work with Python3. In MARBLE3, newly developed analysis codes and newly proposed calculation methods were incorporated, and the user interface was extended and solvers were reimplemented for maintainability, extensibility, and flexibility. In MARBLE3, the three-dimensional hexagonal/triangular transport code MINISTRI Ver.7 (MINISTRI7) and the three-dimensional hexagonal/triangular diffusion code D-MINISTRI are available as the new analysis codes. These codes can be used in the neutronics analysis system SCHEME and the fast reactor burnup analysis system OPRHEUS, which are the subsystems of MARBLE. In addition, the user interface of CBG, a core analysis system embedded in MARBLE, was extended so that the diffusion and transport calculation solvers for the 2-dimensional RZ system of CBG can be used on SCHEME. On the other hand, MARBLE3 has extended the functionality of the burnup calculation solver so that it can use the numerical methods proposed in the papers on the improvement of the Chebyshev rational function approximation method and the minimax polynomial approximation method. From the viewpoint of maintainability, the point reactor kinetics solver POINTKINETICS, which was introduced in MARBLE2, has been newly reworked as the KINETICS solver in MARBLE3.

Investigation of the core neutronics analysis conditions for evaluation of burn-up nuclear characteristics of the next-generation fast reactors

Takino, Kazuo; Oki, Shigeo

JAEA-Data/Code 2023-003, 26 Pages, 2023/05

JAEA-Data-Code-2023-003.pdf:1.66MB

Since next-generation fast reactors aim to achieve a higher core discharge burn-up than conventional reactors do, core neutronics design methods must be refined. Therefore, a suitable analysis condition is required for the analysis of burn-up nuclear characteristics to accomplish sufficient estimation accuracy while maintaining a low computational cost. We investigated the effect of the analysis conditions on the accuracy of estimation of the burn-up nuclear characteristics of next-generation fast reactors in terms of neutron energy groups, neutron transport theory, and spatial mesh. This study treated the following burn-up nuclear characteristics: criticality, burn-up reactivity, control rod worth, breeding ratio, assembly-wise power distribution, maximum linear heat rate, sodium void reactivity, and Doppler coefficient for the equilibrium operation cycle. As a result, it was found that the following conditions were the most suitable: 18-energy-group structure, 6 spatial meshes per assembly with diffusion approximation. Additionally, these conditions should apply to correction factors for energy group structure, spatial mesh and transport effects.

Integral experiment of I(n, ) using fast neutron source in the "YAYOI" reactor

Nakamura, Shoji; Toh, Yosuke; Kimura, Atsushi; Hatsukawa, Yuichi*; Harada, Hideo

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 59(7), p.851 - 865, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2021.2011794

The present study performed integral experiments of I using a fast-neutron source reactor "YAYOI" of the University of Tokyo to validate evaluated nuclear data libraries. The iodine-129 sample and flux monitors were irradiated by fast neutrons in the Glory hole of the YAYOI reactor. Reaction rates of I were obtained by measurement of decay gamma-rays emitted from I. The validity of the fast-neutron flux spectrum in the Glory hole was confirmed by the ratios of the reaction rates of flux monitors. The experimental reaction rate of I was compared with that calculated with both the fast-neutron flux spectrum and evaluated nuclear data libraries. The present study revealed that the evaluated nuclear data of I cited in JENDL-4.0 should be reduced as much as 18% in neutron energies ranging from 10 keV to 3 MeV, and supported the reported data by Noguere below 100 keV.

Evaluation of fixed absorber reactivity measurement in the prototype fast reactor Monju

Ohgama, Kazuya; Katagiri, Hiroki; Takegoshi, Atsushi*; Hazama, Taira

Nuclear Technology, 207(12), p.1810 - 1820, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1846481

Study of the neutron multiplication effect in an active neutron method

Komeda, Masao; Ozu, Akira; Mori, Takamasa; Nakatsuka, Yoshiaki; Maeda, Makoto; Kureta, Masatoshi; Toh, Yosuke

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 54(11), p.1233 - 1239, 2017/11

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1359118

The previous active neutron method cannot remove the influence of the multiplication effect of neutrons produced by second- and subsequent fission reactions, and it might overestimate the amount of nuclear material if an item contains large amounts. In this paper, we discussed the correction method for the neutron multiplication effect on the measured data in the fast neutron direct interrogation (FNDI) method, one of the active neutron methods, supposing that the neutron multiplication effect is caused mainly by third-generation neutrons from the second-fission reactions under the condition that the forth-generation neutrons are much fewer. This paper proposed a correction method for the neutron multiplication effect in the measured data. Moreover we have shown a possibility that this correction method gives rough estimates of the effective neutron multiplication factor and the subcriticality.

Model verification and validation procedure for a neutronics design methodology of next generation fast reactors

Ohgama, Kazuya; Ikeda, Kazumi*; Ishikawa, Makoto; Kan, Taro*; Maruyama, Shuhei; Yokoyama, Kenji; Sugino, Kazuteru; Nagaya, Yasunobu; Oki, Shigeo

Proceedings of 2017 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2017) (CD-ROM), 10 Pages, 2017/04

An Improved fast neutron radiography quantitative measurement method

Matsubayashi, Masahito; Hibiki, Takashi*; Mishima, Kaichiro*; Yoshii, Koji*; Okamoto, Koji*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 533(3), p.481 - 490, 2004/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2004.06.142

The validity of a fast neutron radiography quantification method, the -scaling method, which was originally proposed for thermal neutron radiography was examined with Monte Carlo calculations and experiments conducted at the YAYOI fast neutron source reactor. Water and copper were selected as comparative samples for a thermal neutron radiography case and a dense object, respectively. Although different characteristics on effective macroscopic cross-sections were implied by the simulation, the -scaled experimental results with the fission neutron spectrum cross-sections were well fitted to the measurements for both the water and copper samples. This indicates that the -scaling method could be successfully adopted for quantitative measurements in fast neutron radiography.

Doppler effect measurement on resonance materials for rock-like oxide fuels in an intermediate neutron spectrum

Ando, Masaki; Nakano, Yoshihiro; Okajima, Shigeaki; Kawasaki, Kenji

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 319, p.126 - 130, 2003/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3115(03)00144-2

Doppler effect experiments on resonance materials for ROX fuels were carried out to examine the calculation accuracy in the intermediate neutron spectrum using Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. This study is the second phase of a series of the Doppler effect experiments on the resonance materials, which is following the measurements in the fast neutron spectrum. The Doppler effect was measured as the sample reactivity change between the heated and unheated samples. The cylindrical samples of the resonance materials such as erbium (Er), tungsten (W) and thorium (ThO) were used. The sample was heated up to 800C at the center of the FCA core. The Doppler effect measurements were analyzed using the SRAC 95 code system with the use of JENDL 3.2. The calculated values agreed with the experiment within the experimental error for the W and ThO samples, while the calculation overestimated the experiment for the Er sample about 10 %.

Acceleration irradiation test of first-loading fuel of High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) up to high burnup (Joint research)

Sawa, Kazuhiro; Sumita, Junya; Ueta, Shohei; Takahashi, Masashi; Tobita, Tsutomu*; Hayashi, Kimio; Saito, Takashi; Suzuki, Shuichi*; Yoshimuta, Shigeharu*; Kato, Shigeru*

JAERI-Research 2002-012, 39 Pages, 2002/06

JAERI-Research-2002-012.pdf:3.12MB

no abstracts in English

Preliminary examination of the applicability of imaging plates to fast neutron radiography

Matsubayashi, Masahito; Hibiki, Takashi*; Mishima, Kaichiro*; Yoshii, Koji*; Okamoto, Koji*

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 463(1-2), p.324 - 330, 2001/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(01)00303-5

no abstracts in English