Neutronic Analysis of Start-Up Tests at China Experimental Fast Reactor

The China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) is a small, sodium-cooled fast reactor with 20 MW(e) of power. Start-up tests of the CEFR were performed from 2010 to 2011. The China Institute of Atomic Energy made some of the neutronics start-up-test data available to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as part of an international neutronics benchmarking exercise by distributing the experimental data to interested organizations from the member states of the IAEA. This benchmarking aims to validate and verify the physical models and neutronics simulation codes with the help of the recorded experimental data. The six start-up tests include evaluating criticality, control-rod worth, reactivity effects, and neutron spectral characteristics. As part of this coordinated research, the IAEA performed neutronics calculations using the Monte Carlo codes Serpent 2 and OpenMC, which can minimize modeling assumptions and produce reference solutions for code verification. Both codes model a three-dimensional heterogeneous core with an ENDF/B-VII.1 cross-section library. This study presents the calculation results with a well-estimated criticality and a reasonably good estimation of reactivities. The description and analysis of the core modeling assumptions, challenges in modeling a dense SFR core, results of the first phase of this project, and comparative analysis with measurements are presented.