Regular Article

Uncertainties for Swiss LWR spent nuclear fuels due to nuclear data

Laboratory for Reactor Physics Systems Behaviour, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland

^* e-mail: dimitri-alexandre.rochman@psi.ch

Received: 27 October 2017
Accepted: 14 March 2018
Published online: 15 May 2018

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the impact of the nuclear data (cross sections, neutron emission and spectra) on different quantities for spent nuclear fuels (SNF) from Swiss power plants: activities, decay heat, neutron and gamma sources and isotopic vectors. Realistic irradiation histories are considered using validated core follow-up models based on CASMO and SIMULATE. Two Pressurized and one Boiling Water Reactors (PWR and BWR) are considered over a large number of operated cycles. All the assemblies at the end of the cycles are studied, being reloaded or finally discharged, allowing spanning over a large range of exposure (from 4 to 60 MWd/kgU for ≃9200 assembly-cycles). Both UO₂ and MOX fuels were used during the reactor cycles, with enrichments from 1.9 to 4.7% for the UO₂ and 2.2 to 5.8% Pu for the MOX. The SNF characteristics presented in this paper are calculated with the SNF code. The calculated uncertainties, based on the ENDF/B-VII.1 library are obtained using a simple Monte Carlo sampling method. It is demonstrated that the impact of nuclear data is relatively important (e.g. up to 17% for the decay heat), showing the necessity to consider them for safety analysis of the SNF handling and disposal.