The generation of multigroup neutron cross sections is usually the first step in the solution of reactor physics problems. This typically includes generating condensed cross section sets, collapsing the scattering kernel, and within the context of diffusion theory, computing diffusion coefficients that capture transport effects as accurately possible. Although the calculation of multigroup parameters has historically been done via deterministic methods, it is natural to think of using the Monte Carlo method due to its geometric flexibility and robust computational capabilities such as continuous energy transport. For this reason, a stochastic cross section generation method has been implemented in the Mont Carlo code MCNP5 (Brown et al, 2003) that is capable of computing macroscopic material cross sections (including angular expansions of the scattering kernel) for transport or diffusion applications. This methodology includes the capability of tallying arbitrary-order Legendre expansions of the scattering kernel. Furthermore, several approximations of the diffusion coefficient have been developed and implemented. The accuracy of these stochastic diffusion coefficients within the multigroup framework is investigated by examining a series of simple reactor problems.

A generalization of multigroup energy condensation theory has been developed. The new method generates a solution within the few-group framework which exhibits the energy spectrum characteristic of a many-group transport solution, without the computational time usually associated with such solutions. This is accomplished by expanding the energy dependence of the angular flux in a set of general orthogonal functions. The expansion leads to a set of equations for the angular flux moments in the few-group framework. The 0th moment generates the standard few-group equation while the higher moment equations generate the detailed spectral resolution within the few-group structure. It is shown that by carefully choosing the orthogonal function set (e.g., Legendre polynomials), the higher moment equations are only coupled to the 0th-order equation and not to each other. The decoupling makes the new method highly competitive with the standard few-group method since the computation time associated with determining the higher moments become negligible as a result of the decoupling. The method is verified in several 1-D benchmark problems typical of BWR configurations with mild to high heterogeneity.

Es wurde eine SP3-Transportmethode entwickelt, die neutronenkinetische Rechnungen für die Kerne von Leichtwasserreaktoren mit höherer Genauigkeit als die gegenwärtig in der Kernauslegung angewandten Standardmethoden auf Basis der Zweigruppendiffusionsnäherung er-laubt. Eine Verbesserung der Genauigkeit von Abbrandrechnungen und der Berechnung von Tran-sienten ist für heterogene Kerne notwendig, in denen neben UO2-Brennelementen auch Mischoxyd – Brennelemente eingesetzt werden. In einem ersten Schritt wird die in dem Rechenprogramm DYN3D verwendete Zweigruppendiffusi-onsmethode auf viele Energiegruppen erweitert. Auf der Basis von Untersuchungen zu einer optima-len Gruppenstruktur wird die Verwendung von 8-10 Energiegruppen der Neutronen als optimal erach-tet. Das Verfahren wurde anhand von stationären und transienten Rechnungen für das OECD/NEA und US NRC PWR MOX/UO2 Core Transient Benchmark verifiziert. In den nächsten Schritten erfolgte die Entwicklung und Implementierung einer SP3-Näherung in DYN3D. Dabei besteht die Möglichkeit, ein feineres Gitter im BE zu benutzen. Das Verfahren wurde zunächst durch pinweise Berechnung stationärer Zustände des obigen Benchmarks verifiziert. Untersuchungen für das Benchmarkproblem zeigen, dass das Verhältniss des 2-ten Momentes zum 0-ten Moment des Flusses klein ist. Die beiden SP3-Gleichungen können deshalb separat in iterativer Weise gelöst werden. Dies reduziert den benötigten Speicherplatz und erfordert weniger CPU-Zeit. Dieses vereinfachte Verfahren wurde deshalb ebenfalls in das Programm implementiert. Es wird ge-zeigt, dass mit diesem Verfahren eine vergleichbare Genauigkeit erreicht wird. Stabweise Rechnun-gen mit 4, 8 und 16 Energiegrupppen wurden für einen stationären Zustand des Benchmarks durch-geführt. Eine 3-dimensionale Aufgabe des Benchmarks mit Rückkopplung und Vollleistung wurde mit dem optimierten SP3-Verfahren gerechnet. A SP3 transport approximation was developed for neutron kinetic calculations of cores of light water reactors with a higher accuracy than the present standard methods of core design based on the two group diffusion approximation. An improvement of accuracy for burnup and transient calculations is required for cores loaded with UO2 and MOX fuel assemblies. In the first step, the two group diffusion method applied in the computer code DYN3D was extended to an arbitrary number of groups. Investigations for an optimal group structure have shown that a number of 8 to 10 energy groups of neutrons seems to be reasonable. The multi-group technique was verified for steady states and transients of the OECD/NEA und US NRC PWR MOX/UO2 Core Tran-sient Benchmark. In the next steps, a SP3-approximation was developed and implemented into DYN3D. The possibility of using finer meshes inside the fuel assemblies is involved in this method. The technique was veri-fied by pinwise calculations for steady states of the above mentioned benchmark. The investigations to the benchmark problem have shown that ratio of the 2nd moment of flux to the 0th moment is small. Therefore the two coupled SP3 equations can be solved separately in an iterative way. The required computer memory and the CPU time can be reduced by this technique. This sim-pler method was also implemented in the code. It is shown that the reached accuracy is comparable to accuracy of the original technique. Pinwise calculations with 4, 8 and 16 energy groups were per-formed for a steady state of this benchmark. A three-dimensional problem of the benchmark at full power and with feedback was calculated with the optimized SP3 technique. The optimized method was used for the time integration of the transient SP3 equations. The pinwise calculation of a control rod ejection was tested for a simple system and the results were compared with the diffusion solution.

The following research contributes original concepts to the fields of deterministic neutron transport modeling and reactor power excursion simulation. A deterministic neutron transport code was created to assess the value of new methods of determining neutron current, fluence, and flux values through the use of view factor and average path length calculations. The neutron transport code is also capable of modeling the highly anisotropic neutron transport of deuterium-tritium fusion external source neutrons using diffusion theory with the aid of a modified first collision source term. The neutron transport code was benchmarked with MCNP, an industry standard stochastic neutron transport code. Deterministic neutron transport methods allow users to model large quantities of neutrons without simulating their interactions individually. Subsequently, deterministic methods allow users to more easily couple neutron transport simulations with other physics simulations. Heat transfer and thermoelastic mechanics physics simulation modules were each developed and benchmarked using COMSOL, a commercial heat transfer and mechanics simulation software. The physics simulation modules were then coupled and used to simulate reactor pulses in fast burst and externally driven nuclear assemblies. The coupled system of equations represents a new method of simulating reactor pulses that allows users to more fully characterize pulsed assemblies. Unlike older methods of reactor pulse simulation, the method presented in this research does not require data from the operational reactor in order to simulate its behavior. The ability to simulate the coupled neutron transport and thermo-mechanical feedback present in pulsed reactors prior their construction would significantly enhance the quality of pulsed reactor pre-construction safety analysis. Additionally, a graphical user interface is created to allow users to run simulations and visualize the results using the coupled physics simulation modules. / text

A hypothetical smuggling of material suitable for a nuclear weapon is known as a threat scenario. There is a considerable effort by the U.S. government to reduce this threat by placing radiation detectors at key interdiction points around the world. These detectors provide deterrence and defense against smuggling attempts by scanning vehicles, ships, and pedestrians for threat objects. Formulating deployment strategies for these detectors within the global transportation network requires an understanding of the complex interactions between the attributes of a smuggler and the detection systems. These strategies are rooted in the continued development of novel detection systems and alarm algorithms. Radiation transport simulation provides a means for characterizing detection system response to threat scenarios. However, this task is computationally expensive with existing radiation transport codes. Furthermore, the degrees of freedom in smuggler and threat scenario attributes create a large, constantly evolving problem space. Previous research has demonstrated that decomposing the scenario into independently simulated components using Green's functions can simulate photon detector signals with coarse energy resolution. This dissertation presents a general form of this approach, applicable to a wide range of threat scenarios through physics enhancements and numerical treatments for high energy resolution photon transport, neutron transport, and time dependent transport. While each Green's function implicitly captures the full transport phase-space within each component, these new methods ensure that this information is preserved between components. As a result, detector signals produced from full forward transport simulations can be replicated within 20% while requiring multiple orders of magnitude less computation time. This capability is presented as a general threat scenario simulation platform which can efficiently model a large problem space while preserving the full radiation transport phase-space. / text

No description available.

In this dissertation, three different methods for solving the Boltzmann neutron transport equation (and its low-order approximations) are developed in general geometry and implemented in 1D slab geometry. The first method is for solving the fine-group diffusion equation by estimating the in-scattering and fission source terms with consistent coarse-group diffusion solutions iteratively. This is achieved by extending the subgroup decomposition method initially developed in neutron transport theory to diffusion theory. Additionally, a new stabilizing scheme for on-the-fly cross section re-condensation based on local fixed source calculations is developed in the subgroup decomposition framework. The method is derived in general geometry and tested in 1D benchmark problems characteristic of Boiling Water Reactors (BWR) and Gas Cooled Reactor (GCR). It is shown that the method reproduces the standard fine-group results with 3-4 times faster computational speed in the BWR test problem and 1.5 to 6 times faster computational speed in the GCR core. The second method is a hybrid diffusion transport method for accelerating multi-group eigenvalue transport problems. This method extends the subgroup decomposition method to efficiently couple a coarse-group high-order diffusion method with a set of fixed-source transport decomposition sweeps to obtain the fine-group transport solution. The advantages of this new high-order diffusion theory are its consistent transport closure, straight forward implementation and numerical stability. The method is analyzed for 1D BWR and High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR) benchmark problems. It is shown that the method reproduces the fine-group transport solution with high accuracy while increasing the computationally efficiency up to 16 times in the BWR core and up to 3.3 times in the HTTR core compared to direct fine-group transport calculations. The third method is a new spatial homogenization method in transport theory that reproduces the heterogeneous solution by using conventional flux weighted homogenized cross sections. By introducing an additional source term via an “auxiliary cross section” the resulting homogeneous transport equation becomes consistent with the heterogeneous equation, enabling easy implementation into existing solution methods/codes. This new method utilizes on-the-fly re-homogenization, performed at the assembly level, to correct for core environment effects on the homogenized cross sections. The method is derived in general geometry and continuous energy, and implemented and tested in fine-group 1D slab geometries typical of BWR and GCR cores. The test problems include two single assembly and 4 core configurations. It is believed that the coupling of the two new methods, namely the hybrid method for treating the energy variable and the new spatial homogenization method in transport theory set the stage, as future work, for the development of a robust and practical method for highly efficient and accurate whole core transport calculations.

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