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Calculation of the ex-core neutron noise induced by individual fuel assembly vibrations in two PWR cores

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Abstract

Calculation of the neutron noise induced by fuel assembly vibrations in two pressurized water reactor (PWR) cores has been conducted to investigate the effect of cycle burnup on the properties of the ex-core detector noise. An extension of the method and the computational models of a previous work have been applied to two different PWR cores to examine a hypothesis that fuel assembly vibrations cause the corresponding peak in the auto power spectral density (APSD) increase during the cycle. Stochastic vibrations along a random two-dimensional trajectory of individual fuel assemblies were assumed to occur at different locations in the cores. Two models regarding the displacement amplitude of the vibrating assembly have been considered to determine the noise source. Then, the APSD of the ex-core detector noise was evaluated at three burnup steps. The results show that there is no monotonic tendency of the change in the APSD of ex-core detector; however, the increase in APSD occurs predominantly for peripheral assemblies. When assuming simultaneous vibrations of a number of fuel assemblies uniformly distributed over the core, the effect of the peripheral assemblies dominates the ex-core neutron noise. This behaviour was found similar in both cores.

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Acknowledgments

This work has its origin in a cooperative project between Chalmers University of Technology and the Ringhals power plant. The authors want to acknowledge Ringhals for the access to the data used in the calculations. They also express their thanks to Prof. Christophe Demaziere of Chalmers University of Technology for letting the CORE SIM tool at their disposal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, K7/25 Quang Trung, Da Nang, Vietnam

    Kiet A. T. Hoang & Hoai-Nam Tran

  2. American Polytechnic College, Trung Son KDC, Binh Chanh, HCMC, Vietnam

    Kiet A. T. Hoang

  3. Research and Development Center for Radiation Technology, VINATOM, Thu Duc, HCMC, Vietnam

    Van-Chung Cao

  4. Faculty of Physics and Engineering Physics, VNUHCM-University of Science, HCMC, Vietnam

    Van-Chung Cao

  5. Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology, VINATOM, 179 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Van-Khanh Hoang

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  1. Kiet A. T. Hoang
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  2. Van-Chung Cao
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  3. Van-Khanh Hoang
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  4. Hoai-Nam Tran
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hoai-Nam Tran.

Additional information

This work was supported by Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) (No. 103.04-2014.79).

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Hoang, K.A.T., Cao, VC., Hoang, VK. et al. Calculation of the ex-core neutron noise induced by individual fuel assembly vibrations in two PWR cores. NUCL SCI TECH 27, 86 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-016-0103-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-016-0103-9

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