Analysis of the influence of nuclear fuel burnup on the 16N formation rate in the primary coolant of the WWER-1000 reactor

Abstract

The developed model of the WWER-1000 reactor using MCNP6.2 (Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code) includes the detailed core taking into account the design of the fuel assemblies, as well as the baffle, the lower plenum, the fuel support columns, the core barrel, a downcomer, and the reactor pressure vessel. It allows implementing multifunctional calculations such as recriticality with various fuel configurations, the critical concentration of boric acid, determination of the axial and radial peaking factor in the reactor core, etc. For obtaining the more precise result of the cumulation nitrogen-16 formation rate, the contribution from different water volumes was taken into account: in the core, above the fuel and the top nozzle, in the top nozzle of the fuel assembly, in the bottom nozzle, between the fuel and the bottom nozzle, in the axial channels of the baffle, in the reflector. In order to obtain the realistic boundary conditions, the change of the isotopic composition in the fuel assemblies during one fuel cycle was calculated using the ORIGEN-ARP of SCALE software. Therefore, the influence of the nuclear fuel depletion of fuel assemblies in the WWER-1000 reactor on the change of the basic neutron-physical characteristics was determined such as the distribution of the neutron flux density with the energies necessary to initiate the 16O(n,p)16N reaction, the average number of neutrons per fission, the neutron spectrum and average fission energy. As a result, the dependence of the nitrogen-16 formation rate in the primary coolant system on the nuclear fuel burnup is obtained.