The ADOPT code for automated fast reactor core design

• We report the development of a new code (ADOPT) for automated fast reactor design.
• ADOPT optimizes fast reactor core geometries given a set of design constraints.
• A 50 MWe battery type fast core is developed to demonstrate these capabilities.

The Assembly Design and OPTimization code (ADOPT) is a comprehensive computer code written to automate the process of designing and analyzing fast reactor fuel assemblies and cores. It finds a fuel assembly design that maximizes the fuel volume fraction in the core while adhering to set constraints for all component temperatures, pressure drop, coolant velocity and structural integrity limits, subjected to a specified assembly peak power level. ADOPT can be used very effectively as the first step in the design process of fast reactor cores that offer the maximum possible breeding ratio, which is proportional to the fuel volume fraction. To design fast reactor cores with different objectives, one can start with a neutronic analysis to find material volume fractions that provide the sought core performance. ADOPT can then reverse-engineer a fuel assembly design with the desired volume fractions that abide by all the thermal–hydraulic and structural constraints. The code provides the necessary input files for a full core analysis to either SERPENT or MCNP neutron transport codes. Power and flux profiles from neutron transport calculations are then used to refine the ADOPT solution until a converged solution, considering thermal–hydraulics, structural mechanics and neutronics is achieved.