Experimental validation of control rod related perturbations of moderator regions in an SCWR-like fuel lattice

► Reaction rate distributions in SCWR-like lattices were calculated and measured. ► Experiments agree well with calculations using the probabilistic MCNPX. ► The deterministic code CASMO-4E generally agrees with MCNPX. ► Leakage gradients in the lattice require a special leakage treatment in CASMO-4E. ► Earlier doubts about CASMO’s reliability for such lattices could be dispelled. Two different types of perturbations of an SCWR-like fuel lattice have been investigated experimentally in the central test zone of the PROTEUS zero-power research reactor at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. In each case, a campaign of high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements was carried out on 34 fuel pins of the test lattice. In the first case, the test lattice was perturbed by inserting aluminum rods into the four central moderator regions, while in the second case, the perturbation was affected using steel absorber rods (instead of aluminum). The derived reaction rates are the capture rate in 238U ( C 8) and the total fission rate ( F tot), as also the reaction rate ratio C 8/ F tot. Each of these has been mapped on the lattice and compared to calculated results from whole-reactor Monte Carlo simulations with MCNPX. Excellent agreement has been obtained, for both perturbed lattices, between the calculated and experimental distributions of C 8, F tot and C 8/ F tot. Considering that control rods in an SCWR assembly are foreseen to be inserted into the central moderator regions, these results may be considered as generic validation of Monte Carlo simulations for the two different types of lattice perturbations which inserted control rods imply, viz. moderator displacement and strong neutron absorption. In a second step, calculated C 8, F tot and C 8/ F tot distributions for the two perturbed lattices (as well as for the unperturbed lattice) have been compared, at assembly level, between MCNPX and the deterministic LWR lattice code CASMO-4E. In the case of the unperturbed lattice, as well as for the lattice with steel rods, the agreement between the codes is found to be within ∼1% for all pins and each reaction rate. However, for the lattice with aluminum rods, i.e. the case with mainly just moderator displacement involved, CASMO overestimates the reaction rates in the vicinity of the perturbations by up to 2–3%, when employing the standard input options. The reason for this discrepancy has been found to be the leakage treatment, which uses the fundamental-