Resonance Elastic Scattering and Interference Effects Treatments in Subgroup Method

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and technology Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 339 - 350
• Main Authors: Li, Yunzhao, He, Qingming, Cao, Liangzhi, Wu, Hongchun, Zu, Tiejun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Doppler Broadening Rejection Correction; Resonance Interference Effect; Fast Resonance Interference Factor; Resonance Elastic Scattering Effect; Subgroup Method
• ISSN: 1738-5733; 2234-358X

Based on the resonance integral (RI) tables produced by the NJOY program, the conventional subgroup method usually ignores both the resonance elastic scattering and the resonance interference effects. In this paper, on one hand, to correct the resonance elastic scattering effect, RI tables are regenerated by using the Monte Carlo code, OpenMC, which employs the Doppler broadening rejection correction method for the resonance elastic scattering. On the other hand, a fast resonance interference factor method is proposed to efficiently handle the resonance interference effect. Encouraging conclusions have been indicated by the numerical results. (1) For a hot full power pressurized water reactor fuel pin-cell, an error of about +200 percent mille could be introduced by neglecting the resonance elastic scattering effect. By contrast, the approach employed in this paper can eliminate the error. (2) The fast resonance interference factor method possesses higher precision and higher efficiency than the conventional Bondarenko iteration method. Correspondingly, if the fast resonance interference factor method proposed in this paper is employed, the $k_{inf}$ can be improved by ~100 percent mille with a speedup of about 4.56.