Monte Carlo Simulation of the TRIGA Mark II Benchmark Experiment with Burned Fuel

Abstract

Monte Carlo calculations of a criticality experiment with burned fuel on the TRIGA Mark II research reactor are presented. The main objective was to incorporate burned fuel composition calculated with the WIMSD4 deterministic code into the MCNP4B Monte Carlo code and compare the calculated k_eff with the measurements. The criticality experiment was performed in 1998 at the “Jožef Stefan” Institute TRIGA Mark II reactor in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with the same fuel elements and loading pattern as in the TRIGA criticality benchmark experiment with fresh fuel performed in 1991. The only difference was that in 1998, the fuel elements had on average burnup of ~3%, corresponding to 1.3-MWd energy produced in the core in the period between 1991 and 1998. The fuel element burnup accumulated during 1991-1998 was calculated with the TRIGLAV in-house-developed fuel management two-dimensional multigroup diffusion code. The burned fuel isotopic composition was calculated with the WIMSD4 code and compared to the ORIGEN2 calculations. Extensive comparison of burned fuel material composition was performed for both codes for burnups up to 20% burned ²³⁵U, and the differences were evaluated in terms of reactivity. The WIMSD4 and ORIGEN2 results agreed well for all isotopes important in reactivity calculations, giving increased confidence in the WIMSD4 calculation of the burned fuel material composition. The k_eff calculated with the combined WIMSD4 and MCNP4B calculations showed good agreement with the experimental values. This shows that linking of WIMSD4 with MCNP4B for criticality calculations with burned fuel is feasible and gives reliable results.