Determination of thermal hydraulic data of GHARR-1 under reactivity insertion transients using the PARET/ANL code

• The PARET/ANL code has been adapted by the IAEA for testing transient behaviour in research reactors since it provides a coupled thermal hydrodynamic and point kinetics capability for estimating thermalhydraulic margins. A two-channel power peaking profile of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) has been developed for the PARET/ANL (Version 7.3; 2007) using the Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) to determine the thermal hydraulic data for reactivity insertion transients in the range of 2.0×10^−3k/k to 5.5×10^−3k/k. Peak clad and coolant temperatures ranged from 59.18 ◦C to 112.36 ◦C and 42.95 ◦C to 79.42 ◦C respectively. Calculated safety margins (DNBR) satisfied the MNSR thermal hydraulic design criteria for which no boiling occurs in the reactor core. The generated thermal hydraulic data demonstrated a high inherent safety feature of GHARR-1 for which the high negative reactivity feedback of the moderator limits power excursion and consequently the escalation of the clad temperature.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Applied Nuclear Physics

Tillämpad kärnfysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)