Implementation and validation of OpenMC depletion capabilities in SaltProc

Yardas, Oleksandr Redin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121954 Copy

Description

Title

Implementation and validation of OpenMC depletion capabilities in SaltProc

Author(s)

Yardas, Oleksandr Redin

Issue Date

2023-10-06

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Munk, Madicken

Committee Member(s)

Kozlowski, Tomasz

Department of Study

Nuclear, Plasma, & Rad Engr

Discipline

Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• OpenMC
• molten salt reactors
• depletion

Abstract

No operating molten salt reactors (MSRs) exist, so we must rely on computer simulations to study this technology. Popular MSR designs to use in simulations include the Molten Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR), the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE), and the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR). A key process to consider for MSRs is on-line fuel reprocessing and its effect on reactor dynamics. SaltProc is an open source interface code tool that simulates on-line fuel reprocessing when coupled with a depletion-capable transport solver. SaltProc was intended to be usable with any depletion solver, but initially was written with support for Serpent2 exclusively. In this work, the SaltProc codebase was overhauled to simplify coupling to depletion solvers. Support for OpenMC was also added. To ensure that the code maintained existing functionality as well as extended it, the new functionality was validated on a full-core model of the MSBR. The results indicate that keff between OpenMC and Serpent2 differ by +35 pcm at beginning of life and by 700 pcm at the end of the simulation after one year of operation. Additionally, the relative difference of most actinides is less than 2%. The actinides with smaller concentrations in the fuel tend to have larger relative differences between the two codes. The results for fission products are similar, however, the relative differences are smaller, with most of the fission products having a relative difference no greater than 0.6%. There are some outliers in the results with very high relative errors, however, these can be attributed to numerical errors. This is significant as this makes SaltProc the first completely open-source tool to flexibly and accurately simulate on-line fuel reprocessing.

Graduation Semester

2023-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Oleksandr Redin Yardas

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