The work completed had the following objectives: i) To compute pulse width (full width at half maximum-FWHM) of the power curves for the Three Mile Island Unit 1 Pressurized Water Reactor (TMI-1 PWR) core model in the event of a super-prompt-critical rod ejection accident (REA) at Hot Zero Power (HZP) in the central fuel assembly (Rod 7A) at both EOC and BOC for various control rod worths and d...

Abstract: Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is introduced to optimize the control rod positions in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) core. The widely used 3D-IAEA benchmark problem is selected as the typical PWR core and the neutron flux field is solved. Besides, some additional thermal parameters are assumed to obtain the temperature distribution. Then the total and local entropy production i...

The outlet feeder pipe thinning in a PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) is caused by a high pressure steam flow inside the pipe, which is a well known degradation mechanism called a FAC (Flow Assisted Corrosion). In order to monitor the degradation, the thickness of the outlet bends close to the exit of the pressure tube should be measured and analyzed at every official overhaul. This paper...

. Void swelling and radiation-induced segregation have been measured in 304 stainless steel. Samples were irradiated in the outer regions of the EBR-11reactor where displacement rates of 2.OX10-8and 6.6 xl 0-8dpds are comparable to those in pressurized water reactor components. Samples were inadiated at temperatures from 371-390°C to total doses of up to 20 dpa. Void swelling reached a maximum ...

The primary and secondary cooling systems of French pressurized water reactor contain many welded components with complex geometry : elbows, welding without smooth profile, nozzles. In service inspections of such components performed with conventional ultrasonic (US) contact transducers present limited performances. First, variations in sensitivity, due to unmatched contact on depressions or ir...

Thermal fatigue in the mixing zones of pressurized water reactor pipings can potentially lead to the appearance of crack networks. Ultrasonic detection and characterization of a propagated defect in such a network is then a challenge. To study the influence of these secondary crack networks on the ultrasonic inspection of a propagated defect, a mock-up was produced. The innovative manufacturing...

On-the-fly diagnostics of the number of particles per iteration cycle in iterated-source Monte Carlo computation, which output diagnostic measures for a given spatial resolution of binning cells as iteration cycles progress, have been studied using relative entropy and chi-square distance. A source ratio vector is defined whose components are the ratio of the sources of adjacent iteration cycle...