Neutronic analysis of control rod effect on safety parameters in Tehran Research Reactor

Abstract

The measurement and calculation of neutronic parameters in nuclear research reactors has an important influence on control and safety of the nuclear reactor. The power peaking factors, reactivity coefficients and kinetic parameters are the most important neutronic parameter for determining the state of the reactor. The position of the control shim safety rods in the core configuration affects these parameters. The main purpose of this work is to use the MTR_PC package to evaluate the effect of the partially insertion of the control rod on the neutronic parameters at the operating core of the Tehran Research Reactor. The simulation results show that by increasing the insertion of control rods (bank) in the core, the absolute values of power peaking factor, reactivity coefficients and effective delayed neutron fraction increased and only prompt neutron life time decreased. . In addition, the results show that the changes of moderator temperature coefficients value versus the control rods positions are very significant. The average value of moderator temperature coefficients increase about 98% in the range of 0–70% insertion of control rods. Keywords: Neutronic parameter, Power peaking factor, Moderator temperature coefficient, Fuel temperature coefficient, Kinetic parameters