Program

I.2 -- Invited, NCTP-41

Date: Tuesday, 2 August 2016

Time: 10h30 - 11h00

Neutron noise simulation and application in diagnosis of fuel vibrations in a PWR

Tran Hoai Nam

Duy Tan University

Neutron noise is the fluctuation of neutron flux in the reactor core due to in-core fluctuations. The fluctuations is due to physical and technological processes, such as fluctuations in temperature, pressure, density, and displacement of reactor components. These processes lead to the changes of macroscopic cross sections, and therefore, affecting neutron flux. The neutron noise could be measured by detectors located inside and/or outside of the core. Neutron noise analysis has been early considered as a powerful technique in reactor diagnostics and core monitoring. Online diagnostics for monitoring the operating status of light water reactors (LWRs) based on analyzing the detector signals of neutron noise were deployed widely in various countries. Numerical simulation based on solving the neutron noise equation in diffusion theory in a frequency domain remains a challenge to reproduce and interpret the measured data. In this report, we present the recent development of numerical simulations of the neutron noise in power reactors. Application in investigating the characteristics of the neutron noise induced by the in-core fuel assembly vibrations in PWRs will also be presented.

Presenter: Tran Hoai Nam