High-resolution neutronics model for ^(238)Pu production in high-flux reactors

We proposed and compared three methods(filter burnup,single energy burnup,and burnup extremum analysis)to build a high-resolution neutronics model for 238Pu production in high-flux reactors.The filter burnup and single energy burnup methods have no theoretical approximation and can achieve a spectrum resolution of up to~1 eV,thereby constructing the importance curve and yield curve of the full energy range.The burnup extreme analysis method combines the importance and yield curves to consider the influence of irradiation time on production efficiency,thereby constructing extreme curves.The three curves,which quantify the transmutation rate of the nuclei in each energy region,are of physical significance because they have similar distributions.A high-resolution neutronics model for ^(238)Pu production was established based on these three curves,and its universality and feasibility were proven.The neutronics model can guide the neutron spectrum optimization and improve the yield of ^(238)Pu by up to 18.81%.The neutronics model revealed the law of nuclei transmutation in all energy regions with high spectrum resolution,thus providing theoretical support for high-flux reactor design and irradiation production of ^(238)Pu.

Rapid diagnostic method for transplutonium isotope production in high flux reactors

Transplutonium isotopes are scarce and need to be produced by irradiation in high flux reactors.However,their production is inefficient,and optimization studies are necessary.This study analyzes the physical nature of transplutonium isotope produc-tion using ^(252)Cf,^(244)Cm,^(242)Cm,and ^(238)Pu as examples.Traditional methods based on the Monte Carlo burnup calculation have the limitations of many calculations and cannot analyze the individual energy intervals in detail;thus,they cannot sup-port the refined evaluation,screening,and optimization of the irradiation schemes.After understanding the physical nature and simplifying the complexity of the production process,we propose a rapid diagnostic method for evaluating radiation schemes based on the concepts“single energy interval value(SEIV)”and“energy spectrum total value(ESTV)”.The rapid diagnostic method not only avoids tedious burnup calculations,but also provides a direction for optimization.The optimal irradiation schemes for producing ^(252)Cf,^(244)Cm,^(242)Cm,and ^(238)Pu are determined based on a rapid diagnostic method.Optimal irradiation schemes can significantly improve production efficiency.Compared with the initial scheme,the optimal scheme improved the production efficiency of ^(238)Pu by 7.41 times;^(242)Cm,11.98 times;^(244)Cm,65.20 times;and ^(252)Cf,15.08 times.Thus,a refined analysis of transplutonium isotope production is conducted and provides a theoretical basis for improving production efficiency.

Semi-empirical and semi-quantitative lightweight shielding design method

The lightweight shielding design of small reactors is a popular research topic.Based on a small helium-xenon-cooled solid reactor,the effects of neutron and photon shielding sequence and the number of shielding layers on the radiation dose were first studied.It was found that when photons were shielded first and the number of shielding layers was odd,the radiation dose could be significantly reduced.To reduce the weight of the shielding body,the relative thickness of the shielding layers was optimized using the genetic algorithm.The optimized scheme can reduce the radiation dose by up to 57%and reduce the weight by 11.84%.To determine the total thickness of the shielding layers and avoid the local optimal solution of the genetic algorithm,a series of formulas that describes the relationship between the total thickness and the radiation dose was developed through large-scale calculations.A semi-empirical and semi-quantitative lightweight shielding design method is proposed to integrate the above shielding optimization method that verified by the Monte Carlo method.Finally,a code,SDIC1.0,was developed to achieve the optimized lightweight shielding design for small reactors.It was verified that the difference between the SDIC1.0 and the RMC code is approximately 10%and that the computation time is shortened by 6.3 times.

SP3-coupled global variance reduction method based on RMC code

A global variance reduction(GVR)method based on the SPN method is proposed.First,the global multi-group cross-sections are obtained by Monte Carlo(MC)global homogenization.Then,the SP3 equation is solved to obtain the global flux distribution.Finally,the global weight windows are approximated by the global flux distribution,and the GVR simulation is performed.This GVR method is implemented as an automatic process in the RMC code.The SP3-coupled GVR method was tested on a modified version of C5 G7 benchmark with a thickened water shield.The results show that the SP3-coupled GVR method can improve the efficiency of MC criticality calculation.