STAR 3D Nodal Kinetics and Thermal/Hydraulic Model for the Pennsylvania State TRIGA Reactor

Abstract

A detailed three-dimensional (3D) time-dependent STAR [ 1 ]nodal kinetics model coupled to a one-dimensional (1 D) thermal-hydraulics WIGL model has been developed to describe conservatively the peak power and pulse behavior of the Penn State University (PSU) Breazeale TRIGA reactor. This paper describes how the STAR model and its cross section data input was developed and benchmarked against actual TRIGA pulse experiments. Different core configurations (i.e., different core loading patterns, and with/without the TRIGA core next to the D2O tank) were used for several TRIGA pulse tests with different reactivity insertion worths. This paper shows that the STAR nodal kinetics code adequately simulates TRIGA pulses when group constants are generated from physics codes (i.e., WIMS-D4) that can accurately model the TRIGA uranium-zirconium-hydride fuel.