Neutronic simulation of China Experimental Fast Reactor start-up tests. Part I: SARAX code deterministic calculation

Abstract

As one of participants of recent coordinated research project proposed by International Atomic Energy Agency and China Institute of Atomic Energy, the computational reactor physics and experiment laboratory of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea, is currently focused on a study involving the neutronic simulation of the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) start-up tests. The CEFR start-up tests include obtaining measurements of the criticality, control rod worth, sodium void reactivity, temperature reactivity, and subassembly swap reactivity. The fast reactor neutronic analysis code SARAX is selected for performing such simulations for additional validation. The obtained numerical results are compared with measurement data. In addition, the differences in the expected results of the heterogeneous and homogeneous models are quantified in this study. According to the simulation, the calculated results agreed well with the measured values in the case of the majority of the neutronic characteristics.