Title:	Hybrid neutron transport for advanced static core calculations
DNr:	NAISS 2024/22-456
Project Type:	NAISS Small Compute
Principal Investigator:	Hirepan Palomares Chavez <hirepan.palomares@chalmers.se>
Affiliation:	Chalmers tekniska högskola
Duration:	2024-03-28 – 2024-11-01
Classification:	10301
Keywords:

Abstract

The neutron transport tools for static core calculations have been long classified into two categories according to their methodology: Monte Carlo and deterministic. Monte Carlo methods can reproduce near-real-physics characteristics of the problem at hand. However due to its stochastic nature it requires a high number of neutron histories to achieve accurate results which raises the computational cost. In deterministic methods the neutron transport equation is solved explicitly after discretizing the neutron dependency on energy, space, and solid angle, leading to a linear system of equations where the eigenvalue problem is solved iteratively. Normally this methodology leads to quicker results but less accurate results compared with Monte Carlo solvers. In this work a hybrid computational framework for static core calculations relying on the Response Matrix Method (RMM) is developed. The hybrid strategy aims to harness the computational accuracy of Monte Carlo calculations and the efficiency of deterministic methods. The framework emerges as a new tool for neutron transport calculations and is tested in a system characteristic of a sodium-cooled fast reactor.