Verification of the CASMO-3/SIMULATE-3 Pin Power Accuracy by Comparison with Operating Boiling Water Reactor Measurements

Intranodal pin power distributions calculated by the CASMO-3/SIMULATE-3 code have been compared with pin gamma scan measurements. These data were obtained from the depleted core of an operating boiling water reactor (BWR), which is more complicated than a pressurized water reactor to calculate because of the existence of coolant void distributions and cruciform control blades. Furthermore, measured bundles include mixed-oxide (MOX) bundles in which steep thermal flux gradients occur. Both UO2 and MOX bundles have been calculated in the same manner based on the standard CASMO-3/SIMULATES methods. The total pin power root-mean-square (rms) error is 2.7%, which includes measurement error, from an 896-point comparison. There is no obvious dependency on axial elevations (void fractions) and no significant difference between fuel types (UO2 or MOX), although the errors in a peripheral bundle, which is less important from the standpoint of core design, are somewhat larger than those in the internal bundles. If the peripheral bundle is excluded, the total rms error is reduced to 2.2%. From these results, it is concluded that excellent agreement has been obtained between the calculations and measurements and that the calculational capability of CASMO-3/SIMULATES for the intranodal pin power distribution is quite satisfactory and useful for BWR core design.