A Novel Adjoint-Based Reduced-Order Model for Depletion Calculations in Nuclear Reactor Physics

Thibault Sauzedde (), Pascal Archier and Frédéric Nguyen
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Thibault Sauzedde: CEA, DES, IRESNE, DER, SPRC, Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
Pascal Archier: CEA, DES, IRESNE, DER, SPRC, Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France
Frédéric Nguyen: CEA, DES, IRESNE, DER, SPRC, Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: The licensing of new reactors implies the use of verified and validated neutronic codes. Numerical validation can rely on sensitivity and uncertainty studies, but they require repeated execution of time-consuming neutron flux and depletion calculations. The computational costs can be reduced by using perturbation theories. However, the uncoupled Depletion Perturbation Theory is restricted to single integral values such as nuclide density. Relying on reduced-basis approaches, which reconstruct all nuclide densities at once, is one way to get around this restriction. Furthermore, the adjoint-based reduced-order model uses the direct and adjoint equations for projection. For diffusion or transport calculations, the Exact-to-Precision Generalized Perturbation Theory was developed. Still, no models for depletion calculations are readily available. Therefore, this paper describes a novel adjoint-based reduced-order model for the Bateman Equation. It uses a range-finding algorithm to create the basis and the uncoupled Depletion Perturbation Theory for the reconstruction of the first order replaced by with a first order formulation. Our paper shows that for several perturbed cases, the depletion reduced-order model successfully reconstructs the nuclide densities. As a result, this serves as a proof of concept for our adjoint-based reduced-order model, which can perform sensitivity and uncertainty burn-up analysis in a shorter time.

Keywords: reduced-order model; perturbation theory; depletion; burn-up analysis; reactor physics; adjoint methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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