MCS Monte Carlo multi-physics depletion analysis of an OPR-1000 reactor

Abstract

The Monte Carlo code MCS is developed at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology for the purpose of multi-physics high-fidelity analysis – neutron transport coupled with thermal/hydraulic and fuel performance (N/TH/FP) solvers - of large-scale pressurized water reactors (PWRs). In this work, the 3-D whole-core pin-wise depletion analysis of the OPR-1000 reactor system is conducted with two multi-physics coupled systems: Monte Carlo MCS with 1-D closed-channel T/H feedback (MCS/TH1D) and Monte Carlo MCS coupled with the fuel performance code FRAPCON (MCS/FRAPCON). The multi-physics coupling capability and accuracy of MCS is demonstrated by comparison of the calculated results against measured data for several neutronic parameters of interest: the critical boron concentration (boron letdown curve) and axial/radial power distributions. The solutions obtained by the MCS-based coupled systems show good agreement with the measurement data. This study therefore brings validation elements of the capability of MCS to perform the highfidelity multi-physics simulation of a practical PWR core.