A Simplified Two-Group Multipoint Kinetics Model

Abstract

Detailed multiphysics modeling of nuclear power plants has become a necessity in the era of best-estimate analysis. For a number of transients with strong coupling between the neutronics in the reactor core and the fluid-dynamics in the primary circuit and overall heat transfer, it is required to carry out coupled system thermal hydraulics and core three-dimensional (3D) neutronics analysis. Point kinetics approach in the system thermal-hydraulics (TH) code RELAP5 limits its use for many reactivity-induced transients, which involve asymmetric core behavior. In a recent development, a simplified multipoint kinetics model has been coupled with system TH code RELAP5 to circumvent its inadequacy for the analysis of reactivity-induced transients involving asymmetric core behavior. The objective of this paper is to validate the simplified multipoint kinetics model against an asymmetric fast transient benchmark problem in a large power reactor. Time-step and nodalization sensitivity studies have been performed. It is demonstrated that the multipoint kinetics model results are in good agreement with the benchmark, advocating its applicability.