Neutronics design analyses of fusion power reactors based on a novel integral approach

A novel integral approach was applied for the nuclear design analyses performed for the European DEMO Conceptual Study including, for the first time, the automatic generation of analysis models for Monte Carlo calculations from available CAD geometry data by the new McCad conversion tool. Starting from neutronics pre-analyses to define the radial reactor build, a generic neutronics CAD model of the DEMO reactor was constructed serving as basis for the generation of DEMO reactor models employing the HCLL (Helium Cooled Lithium Lead) and HCPB (Helium Cooled Pebble Bed) blankets for the tritium breeding and the power production. The HCLL and HCPB DEMO reactor models were converted to the MCNP geometry representation by the newly developed McCad software tool. The nuclear analyses performed on the basis of MCNP Monte Carlo calculations using the converted models showed that both DEMO reactor variants could satisfy the requirements for a sufficient shielding and tritium breeding performance. As a major outcome of this work it is concluded that the newly established integral approach for neutronics analyses, including the automatic generation of analysis geometry models by McCad, is mature for applications to reactor design analyses and studies.     

Neutronics assessment of the use of thorium fuels in current pressurized water reactors

The use of thorium fuel in current PWRs in a once-through fuel cycle is an attractive option due to potential advantages such as high conversion ratio and low minor actinide generation. The current neutronics assessments indicate that the thorium fuel cycle could supplement the current uranium–plutonium fuel cycle to improve operational performance and spent fuel consideration in current PWRs without core and subassembly modifications. Neutronics safety parameters in the PWR cores with the thorium fuels are within the range of current PWRs.The PWR cores with thorium fuels have significantly higher conversion ratios which could enable efficient fuel utilization. Further, it is shown that the use of thorium as a fertile material can reduce minor actinide generation and the radio-toxicity of spent fuels. In considerations related to proliferation resistance, the results of the current analyses show no significant difference between the studied thorium fuels and the standard oxide fuel for the assumed characteristics and burnup levels.     

Evaluation of Global Water Resources Reanalysis Runoff Products for Local Water Resources Applications: Case Study-Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia

The increasing availability of global observation datasets, both from in situ and remote sensors, and advancements in earth system models and data assimilation algorithms have generated a number of water resources reanalysis products that are available at global scale and high spatial and temporal resolutions. These products hold great potential for water resources applications, but their levels of uncertainty need to be evaluated at local scale. In this work, we evaluate the runoff product from two multi-model global water resources reanalyses (WRRs), available at 0.5° (WRR1) and 0.25° (WRR2) grid resolutions, which were produced within the framework of a European Union project (eartH2Observe) in the upper Blue Nile basin. Analysis indicates that the recently released WRR2 UniK product exhibits consistently better performance statistics than the earlier coarser-resolution WRR1 and the rest of the WRR2 products at all ranges of temporal and spatial scale evaluated. Streamflow simulations based on gauged rainfall forcing and the locally set hydrological model CREST outperforms all the other products, including UniK. Global hydrological products can be a data source for various water resources planning and management applications in data-scarce areas of Africa. This study cautions against using available global hydrological products without prior uncertainty evaluation.