Fuel depletion analyses at the Missouri University Research Reactor

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In developing, assembling and updating safety analysis cases for nuclear power and research reactors, fuel depletion plays a major role and ultimately leads to the calculation of fuel inventory and reactivity versus burnup, important parameters required for regulatory compliance. This thesis describes the use of the Monteburns code for the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR) fuel depletion analyses, and provides simulation comparisons with experimental results and other codes results. The model and simulation differences are assessed and an analysis of the accuracy of the Monteburns code and model for MURR is provided. This thesis also describes an application in support of the MURR Safety Analysis Report (SAR) update work.