A Simplified HTTR Diffusion Theory Benchmark

Abstract

The Georgia Institute of Technology (GA-Tech) recently developed a transport theory benchmark based closely on the geometry and the features of the HTTR reactor that is operational in Japan. Though simplified, the benchmark retains all the principal physical features of the reactor and thus provides a realistic and challenging test for the codes. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is an extension of the benchmark to diffusion theory applications by generating the additional data not provided in the GA-Tech prior work. The second goal is to use the benchmark on the HEXPEDITE code available to the INL. The HEXPEDITE code is a Green’s function-based neutron diffusion code in 3D hexagonal-z geometry. The results showed that the HEXPEDITE code accurately reproduces the effective multiplication factor of the reference HELIOS solution. A secondary, but no less important, conclusion is that in the testing against actual HTTR data of a full sequence of codes that would include HEXPEDITE, in the apportioning of inevitable discrepancies between experiment and models, the portion of error attributable to HEXPEDITE would be expected to be modest. If large discrepancies are observed, they would have to be explained by errors in the data fed into HEXPEDITE. Results based on a fully realistic model of the HTTR reactor are presented in a companion paper. The suite of codes used in that paper also includes HEXPEDITE. The results shown here should help that effort in the decision making process for refining the modeling steps in the full sequence of codes.