A new burn-up module for application in fuel performance calculations targeting the helium production rate in (U,Pu)O2 for fast reactors

Nuclear Engineering and Technology

L. Luzzi¹  S. Altieri²  T. Barani²  A. Cechet²  A. Magni²  L. Cognini²  S. Lorenzi²  D. Pizzocri² 

[1] Corresponding author.;Politecnico di Milano, Department of Energy, Nuclear Engineering Division, Via La Masa 34, 20156, Milano, Italy;

关键词: Burn-up module;    Oxide nuclear fuels;    Fuel performance code;    SCIANTIX;    Helium production;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In light of the importance of helium production in influencing the behaviour of fast reactor fuels, in this work we present a burn-up module with the objective to calculate the production of helium in both in-pile and out-of-pile conditions tracking the evolution of 23 alpha-decaying actinides. This burn-up module relies on average microscopic cross-section look-up tables generated via SERPENT high-fidelity calculations and involves the solution of the system of Bateman equations for the selected set of actinide nuclides. The results of the burn-up module are verified in terms of evolution of actinide and helium concentrations by comparing them with the high-fidelity ones from SERPENT, considering two representative test cases of (U,Pu)O2 fuel in fast reactor conditions. In addition, a code-to-code comparison is made with the independent state-of-the-art module TUBRNP (implemented in the TRANSURANUS fuel performance code) for the same test cases. The herein presented burn-up module is available in the SCIANTIX code, designed for coupling with fuel performance codes.

【 授权许可】

Unknown