Investigations of space-dependent safety-related parameters of a PBMR-like HTR in transient operating conditions applying a multi-group diffusion code Original Research Article

So far, the two-dimensional reactor dynamics code TINTE (time-dependent nucleonics and temperatures) was applied for simulations of high-temperature gas cooled reactors. One limitation of TINTE is that the neutron energy spectrum is modeled by only two energy groups, namely a thermal and a fast group. Present demands for increased numerical accuracy leads to the question of how precise the two-group approximation is compared to a multi-group approach. The recently developed multi-group derivative of TINTE called MGT (multi-group TINTE) is able to handle up to 43 neutron energy groups. In this study, different scenarios (normal operation and design-basis accidents) have been simulated for a PBMR-like HTR reactor design with MGT. The effect of an increasing number of energy groups on time- and space-dependent safety-related parameters like the fuel and coolant temperature, the nuclear heat source or the xenon concentration is studied. Different ways of calculating the material cross-sections are compared as well.