Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion

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dc.contributor.advisorAschman, Daviden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorKeyser, Tinusen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-08T14:03:54Z
dc.date.available2018-05-08T14:03:54Z
dc.date.issued2018en_ZA
dc.description.abstractA program was written in Python to simulate nuclide reactions and burnup in a thermal fission reactor numerically. The program focused on the depletion calculations and used a simplified neutron flux equation. Nuclide data like cross-sections and fission products were read in from ENDF format files that have undergone pre-processing. To solve the more than 500 simultaneous differential equations that describe the varying isotopic concentrations, short-lived decay isotopes and their decay chains were identified and solved with a modified Bateman solution and then the long-lived isotopes concentrations were solved with matrix exponentiation. The flux was calculated to keep the heat output of the reactions constant. The simulation calculations were validated by comparing the output of decay chains with known analytical solutions. The output of the reactor burnup simulation was compared to that of ORIGEN (The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Isotope Generation And Depletion Code) for a Light Water Reactor at constant load to a burnup of 33GWd/ton. The output of the simulation was relatively similar to that of ORIGEN, but differed in some marked ways, e.g. plutonium breeding, which suggested that the neutron flux calculations and neutron absorption by U238 was not similarly modelled as in ORIGEN. By slightly adjusting the neutron absorption of U238 in the simulation, the correspondence between the simulation and the reference output was improved.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationKeyser, T. (2018). <i>Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Electrical Engineering. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28014en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationKeyser, Tinus. <i>"Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Electrical Engineering, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28014en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationKeyser, T. 2018. Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Keyser, Tinus AB - A program was written in Python to simulate nuclide reactions and burnup in a thermal fission reactor numerically. The program focused on the depletion calculations and used a simplified neutron flux equation. Nuclide data like cross-sections and fission products were read in from ENDF format files that have undergone pre-processing. To solve the more than 500 simultaneous differential equations that describe the varying isotopic concentrations, short-lived decay isotopes and their decay chains were identified and solved with a modified Bateman solution and then the long-lived isotopes concentrations were solved with matrix exponentiation. The flux was calculated to keep the heat output of the reactions constant. The simulation calculations were validated by comparing the output of decay chains with known analytical solutions. The output of the reactor burnup simulation was compared to that of ORIGEN (The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Isotope Generation And Depletion Code) for a Light Water Reactor at constant load to a burnup of 33GWd/ton. The output of the simulation was relatively similar to that of ORIGEN, but differed in some marked ways, e.g. plutonium breeding, which suggested that the neutron flux calculations and neutron absorption by U238 was not similarly modelled as in ORIGEN. By slightly adjusting the neutron absorption of U238 in the simulation, the correspondence between the simulation and the reference output was improved. DA - 2018 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2018 T1 - Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion TI - Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28014 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/28014
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationKeyser T. Numerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletion. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment ,Department of Electrical Engineering, 2018 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28014en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Electrical Engineeringen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherElectrical Engineeringen_ZA
dc.titleNumerical simulation of nuclear reactor isotope depletionen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMSc (Eng)en_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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