https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706044
ANALYSIS OF THE SUPERPHENIX START-UP TESTS WITH APOLLO-3: FROM ZERO POWER ISOTHERMAL CONDITIONS TO DYNAMIC POWER TRANSIENT ANALYSIS
1 CEA, DEN, SPRC, LE2C, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
2 CEA, DEN, SESI, LCOS, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
pierre.sciora@cea.fr
gerald.rimpault@cea.fr
elias-yammir.garcia-cervantes@cea.fr
jean-baptiste.droin@cea.fr
vincent.pascal@cea.fr
Published online: 22 February 2021
Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs) remain a potential candidate to meet future energy needs. In addition, the SFRs experimental feedback is considerable, for instance, the French research program has considered experimental facilities including the Superphénix which has emerged as a transition to commercial deployment. In this paper a set of tests from the Superphénix start-up are reanalyzed with new tools, considering APOLLO-3 and TRIPOLI-4 (respectively deterministic and stochastic codes) for neutron physics evaluation, GERMINAL-V2 for the fuel irradiation behavior and CATHARE-3 for the thermal-hydraulics modelling. Neutron physics evaluations are performed for the main control rod worth and the Doppler Effect, both measured under isothermal conditions at Superphénix start-up. A good agreement is obtained for these tests, which were purely neutronic tests. Next, the core temperature distribution is evaluated at nominal conditions, where larger discrepancies are observed. However, these deviations are related to the measurement of the fuel assemblies, which have a larger than expected uncertainty. Finally a transient, consisting of a negative reactivity insertion, is analyzed to assess the dynamic core behavior. A good agreement is obtained during the reactivity insertion, however the thermal-hydraulic model has to be improved, namely the vessel model, which is considered as a 0-D volume.
Key words: Superphenix / start-up / power transient / Apollo-3 validation
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
