28 June 2015 to 3 July 2015
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
SAIP2015 Proceeding published on 17 July 2016

An analysis and quantification of typical errors in the deterministic calculational path for research reactor modelling

1 Jul 2015, 14:40
20m
Oral Presentation Track B - Nuclear, Particle and Radiation Physics NPRP

Speaker

Mr Thembelani Gina (University of Johannesburg, Necsa)

Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution

Simon Connell - shconnell@uj.ac.za - University of Johannesburg

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD, N/A)?

MSc

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

The objective of this work is to analyse and quantify modelling errors introduced by approximations made in the deterministic calculational path. These approximations are introduced in order to make a model practically solvable with a diffusion code, and they are classified as follows: spatial homogenization, energy (spectral) condensation, diffusion approximation and environmental dependency. In this work, a two-node model consisting of a SAFARI-1 reactor fuel assembly next to a water node is modeled, because it is a typically encountered configuration and fairly sensitive to spatial and spectral approximations. The analysis and quantification of modelling errors introduced in the calculational path was performed. Errors introduced by the four approximations in the calculational path are quantified by investigating the effective multiplication factor (k-eff) and leakages as an integral measure of difference between two models. All calculations were performed with the transport codes NEWT and HEADE and the diffusion code MGRAC. This error analysis will help understand where to focus on improving the modelling accuracy for the deterministic approach to reactor modelling. Preliminary results indicated that for the fuel-water model, environmental dependency error and the diffusion approximation are the largest contributors to the total calculational error.

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

Yes

Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)

Yes

Primary author

Mr Thembelani Gina (University of Johannesburg, Necsa)

Co-authors

Prof. Simon Connell (University of Johannesburg) Mrs Suzanne Groenewald (Necsa) Dr Wessel Joubert (Necsa)

Presentation Materials

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