Coupled 3D Neutronics and Thermal Hydraulics Modeling of the SAFARI-1 Materials Testing Reactor
Open Access
- Author:
- Rosenkrantz, Adam Matthew
- Graduate Program:
- Nuclear Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 29, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Kostadin Nikolov Ivanov, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- Neutronics
Thermal Hydraulics
Modeling
Nuclear
Reactor
Coupling
Engineering - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study was to create a highly accurate model of the SAFARI-1 materials testing reactor, a facility mainly used for research and for the production of medical isotopes. The model was requested as part of the SAFARI-1 benchmarking project as a cooperative effort between the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA). It was created using a coupling of state of the art nuclear reactor simulation tools, consisting of a neutronics code and a thermal hydraulics code. The reactor was subdivided into 2520 nodes for analysis. The neutronics tool used was the PSU code NEM, and the results of this component were validated using the NECSA neutronics code OSCAR, which was in turn validated experimentally. On the average, the multiplication factors of the neutronics models agreed to within 0.005%, and the radial cell powers agreed to within 0.07%. The thermal hydraulics tool used was the PSU version of COBRA-TF (CTF), and the transient results of this component were validated against another thermal hydraulics code, RELAP, which was in turn validated experimentally. Although RELAP results were only released to a limited extent (averaged by assembly type), they fell within the range of values for the corresponding assemblies in the comprehensive CTF solution. The outcome of the study was the intended coupled neutronics/thermal hydraulics model of the SAFARI-1 reactor. The results found using the coupled NEM/CTF model were compared to accepted reactor theory and experimental results, and showed improvement over the stand-alone models. Though the present version of the coupling uses steady-state hot full power conditions, future work may be carried out for advanced analysis of the tank-in-pool type reactor, such as accident analysis or fuel management optimization.