Regular Article

DONJON5/CLASS coupled simulations of MOX/UO₂ heterogeneous PWR core

¹ École Polytechnique de Montréal, Institut de Génie Nucléaire, P.O. Box 6079, Station “Centre-Ville”, Montréal, QC, Canada
² IJCLab, IN2P3-CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91406 Orsay Cedex, France
³ Laboratoire Subatech, IMTA-IN2P3/CNRS-Université, Nantes 44307, France

^* e-mail: maxime-2.paradis@polymtl.ca

Received: 15 July 2021
Received in final form: 9 December 2021
Accepted: 9 December 2021
Published online: 31 January 2022

Abstract

Most fuel cycle simulation tools are based either on fixed recipes or assembly calculations for reactor modeling. Due to the high number of calculations and extensive computational power requirements, full-core computations are often seen as not viable for this purpose. However, this leads to additional hypotheses and modeling biases, thus limiting the realism of the resulting fuel cycle. For several applications, the current modeling method is sufficient, but precise calculations of discharged fuel composition may require further refinements. CLASS (Core Library for Advanced Simulation Scenarios) is a dynamic fuel cycle simulation code developed since 2012 with reactor models based on neural networks to produce nuclear data and physical quantities. Past work has shown a first coupling between CLASS and DONJON5 to quantify neural networks approach biases. This work assesses the applicability of 3D full-core diffusion calculations using the DONJON5 code coupled with nuclear scenario simulations involving a realistic PWR core at equilibrium cycle conditions. DONJON5 interpolates burnup dependent diffusion coefficients and cross sections generated beforehand by DRAGON5, a deterministic lattice calculation tool. Whereas previous studies considered only homogeneous reactors (i.e. homogeneous assembly in terms of composition and enrichment as well as homogeneous core), the present contribution focuses on the integration of full-core calculations in CLASS for fuel cycles involving a MOX/UO₂ PWR core (i.e. 1/3 MOx–2/3 UOx). The DONJON5 model considered in this work describes a core with critical boron concentration at each time step partially loaded with MOx heterogeneous assemblies composed of three enrichments. In fuel cycle calculations, the main issue is to adapt, in the fabrication stage, the fresh fuel composition for the reactor with regards to the isotopic composition of the available stocks. This work presents a fuel loading model based on power peaking factors minimization that respects irradiation cycle length, ²³⁵U enrichment as well as Pu concentration and fissile quality, hence, ensuring a more uniform power distribution in the core.