Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of aspects of the neutronics of a prismatic block-type HTGR
Abstract
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on High
Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGR) Uncertainty Analysis in Modelling (UAM) has been
established aiming to study uncertainty propagation in HTGR modelling. One of the research
outcomes of this CRP is to calculate sensitivity coefficients and to propagate uncertainties for the
MHTGR-350 using various sensitivity and uncertainty methods. This CRP was launched due to a
shift towards Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) methods for safety analysis rather than the
conservative methods. It is imperative in BEPU analysis that a parameter and its confidence limits
lie within the safety margins. SCALE has a suite of uncertainty codes that allow quantification of
uncertainties. These codes include Sampler and CE TSUNAMI-3D, which are chosen because
they have the capability to accommodate the double heterogeneity of HTGRs. The large graphite
quantities and hexagonal geometry for the prismatic designs should be taken into consideration
when selecting analysis codes for HTGRs.
Collections
- Engineering [1403]