On the use of RELAP5-3D as a subchannel analysis code

The capabilities of the RELAP5-3D code to perform subchannel analyses in sodium-cooled fuel assemblies were evaluated. The motivation was the desire to analyze fuel assemblies with traditional (solid pins) as well as non-traditional (e.g., annular pins with internal cooling, bottle-shape) geometries. Since no current subchannel codes can handle such fuel assembly designs, a new flexible RELAP5-based subchannel model was developed. It was shown that subchannel analysis of sodium-cooled fuel assemblies is indeed possible through the use of control variables in RELAP5. The subchannel model performance was then verified and validated in code-to-code and code-to-experiment analyses, respectively. First, the model was compared to the SUPERENERGY II code for solid fuel pins in a conventional hexagonal lattice. It was shown that the temperature predictions from the two codes agreed within 2% (<3.5 °C). Second, the model was applied to the Oak Ridge 19-pin test, and it was found that the measured outlet temperature distribution could be predicted with a maximum error of 8% (<7 °C). Furthermore, the use of semicircular ribs on the duct wall to flatten the temperature distribution in a traditional hexagonal assembly was explored by means of the newly developed RELAP5-3D subchannel model; the results are reported here as an example of the model capabilities.