Calculation of excore detector weighting functions for a sodium-cooled TRU burner mockup using MCNP5

Abstract

Power regulation systems of fast reactors are based on the signals of excore detectors. The excore detector weighting functions, which establish correspondence between the core power distribution and detector signal, are very useful for detector response analyses, e.g., in rod drop experiments. This paper presents the calculation of the weighting functions for a TRU burner mockup of the Korean Prototype Generation-IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (named BFS-76-1A) using the MCNP5 multi-group adjoint capability. For generation of the weighting functions, all fuel assemblies were considered and each of them was divided into ten horizontal layers. Then the weighting functions for individual fuel assembly horizontal layers, the assembly weighting functions, and the shape annealing functions at RCP (Reactor Critical Point) and at conditions under which a control rod group was fully inserted into the core while other control rods at RCP were determined and evaluated. The results indicate that the weighting functions can be considered relatively insensitive to the control rods position during the rod drop experiments and therefore those weighting values at RCP can be applied to the dynamic rod worth simulation for the BFS-76-1A.