Research and Verification of Subcritical Rod Worth Measurement Method for PWRs Based on Bamboo-C Code
The measurement of control rod worth is very important for the validation of nuclear design.Conventionally,the control rod worth measurement is carried out through the boron-dilution method,the rod-swap method,or the dynamic rod worth measurement method.These conventional methods lead to the fact that the zero power physics test occupies too long time.Therefore,this paper proposes the three-dimensional neutron source multiplication method.This method can achieve the measurement of subcriticality as well as control rod worth based on the measured source-range detector signals during the rod withdrawal process and the simulation results by Bamboo-C code.The whole flowchart relies on the current procedure of rod withdrawal process.This method has excellent engineering application ability and can significantly improve the economy of nuclear power plants.The measurement data during the rod withdrawal process in the M310-type reactor of Tianwan NPP is adopted for the verification of the proposed method.Most measured results of control rod worth can meet the engineering acceptance criteria(±10%),which proves that the method proposed in this paper has research value in engineering application.
Subcritical rod worth measurementThree-dimensional neutron source multiplication methodSource-range detectorRod withdrawal processControl rod worth