Calculation of heating values for the high flux isotope reactor

Calculating the amount of energy released by a fission reaction (fission Q value) and the heating rate distribution in a nuclear reactor is an important part of the safety analysis. However, these calculations can become very complex. One of the codes that can be used for this type of analyses is the Monte Carlo transport code MCNP5. Currently it is impossible to calculate the Q value and heating rate disposition for delayed beta and delayed gamma particles directly from MCNP5. The purpose of this paper is to outline a rigorous method for indirectly calculating the Q values and heating rates in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), based on previous similar studies carried out for very high-temperature reactor configurations. This method has been applied in this study to calculate heating rates for the beginning of cycle (BOC) and end-of-cycle (EOC) states of HFIR. In addition, the BOC results obtained for HFIR are compared with corresponding results for the Advanced Test Reactor. The fission Q value for HFIR was calculated as 200.2 MeV for the BOC and 201.3 MeV for the EOC. It was also determined that 95.1% and 95.4% of the heat was deposited within the HFIR fuel plates formore » the BOC and EOC models, respectively. This methodology can also be used for heating rate calculations for HFIR experiments. (authors)« less