Kuosheng BWR/6 stability analysis with LAPUR5 code

Unstable power/flow oscillation of a nuclear power reactor core is one of the main reasons that cause minor core damage. Stability analysis to determine system’s decay ratio needs to be performed at each core reload design to prevent core instability events from happening. Making use of LAPUR5 and SIMULATE-3 codes, we have established a methodology to conduct such analysis. Comparisons made with vendor’s STAIF results indicated close agreements, within acceptable ±0.2 in decay ratios, for Kuosheng NPP Unit2 Cycle 17 reloads design. Sensitivity studies have shown that density reactivity coefficient, delayed-neutron fractions (β) and decay constants (λ), total core flow, and core power axial shape are the most important parameters that might affect the accuracy of decay ratios. We have also found that core conditions at EOC result in larger decay ratios than those at BOC.