Abstract
A model of radial profiles of burnup, heat release, and accumulation of plutonium isotopes is described. The model was developed for use in the mechanistic RTOP fuel element code. The model is based on theoretical ideas about the mechanisms leading to the formation of the radial burnup profile and a simplified description of the neutron spectrum in the reactor, employing the idea of a hardness parameter. The hardness parameter gives the ratio of the thermal and superthermal parts of the neutron spectrum and is the only free input parameter of the model. The results, prsented in the paper, of a comparison of the predictions of the model with the experimental data show that the model possesses much better predictability than the currently most widely used module – TUBRNP.
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Kurchatov, S.Y., Likhanskii, V.V., Sorokin, A.A. et al. RTOP-Code Simulation of the Radial Distribution of Heat Release and Plutonium Isotope Accumulation in High Burnup Oxide Fuel. Atomic Energy 92, 349–356 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016562228619
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016562228619