A benchmark on the calculation of kinetic parameters based on reactivity effect experiments in the CROCUS reactor

Measurements in the CROCUS reactor at EPFL, Lausanne, are reported for the critical water level and the inverse reactor period for several different sets of delayed supercritical conditions. The experimental configurations were also calculated by four different calculation methods. For each of the supercritical configurations, the absolute reactivity value has been determined in two different ways, viz.: (i) through direct comparison of the multiplication factor obtained employing a given calculation method with the corresponding value for the critical case (calculated reactivity: ρcalc); (ii) by application of the inhour equation using the kinetic parameters obtained for the critical configuration and the measured inverse reactor period (measured reactivity: ρmeas). The calculated multiplication factors for the reference critical configuration, as well as ρcalc for the supercritical cases, are found to be in good agreement. However, the values of ρmeas produced by two of the applied calculation methods differ appreciably from the corresponding ρcalc values, clearly indicating deficiencies in the kinetic parameters obtained from these methods.