Contributon-Informed Approach to RPV Irradiation Study Using Hybrid Shielding Methodology

Mario Matijević (), Krešimir Trontl and Dubravko Pevec
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Mario Matijević: University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Department of Applied Physics, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Krešimir Trontl: University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Department of Applied Physics, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Dubravko Pevec: University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Department of Applied Physics, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-22

Abstract: An important aspect of pressurized water reactor (PWR) lifetime monitoring is supporting radiation shielding analyses which can quantify various in-core and out-core effects induced in reactor materials by varying neutron–gamma fields. A good understanding of such a radiation environment during normal and accidental operating conditions is required by plant regulators to ensure proper shielding of equipment and working personnel. The complex design of a typical PWR is posing a deep penetration shielding problem for which an elaborate simulation model is needed, not only in geometrical aspects but also in efficient computational algorithms for solving particle transport. This paper presents such a hybrid shielding approach of FW-CADIS for characterization of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) irradiation using SCALE6.2.4 code package. A fairly detailed Monte Carlo model (MC) of typical reactor internals was developed to capture all important streaming paths of fast neutrons which will backscatter the biological shield and thus enhance RPV irradiation through the cavity region. Several spatial differencing and angular segmentation options of the discrete ordinates S N flux solution were compared in connection to a S N mesh size and were inspected by VisIt code. To optimize MC neutron transport toward the upper RPV head, which is a particularly problematic region for particle transport, a deterministic solution of discrete ordinates in forward/adjoint mode was convoluted in a so-called contributon flux, which proved to be useful for subsequent S N mesh refinement and variance reduction (VR) parameters preparation. The pseudo-particle flux of contributons comes from spatial channel theory which can locate spatial regions important for contributing to a shielding response.

Keywords: SCALE6; FW-CADIS; hybrid shielding; RPV irradiation; adjoint flux; contributon flux; Monte Carlo; variance reduction (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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