Neutronic calculations of the IAEA 10Â MW MTR benchmark reactor via finite element method using COMSOL multiphysics code

A 10 MW MTR benchmark reactor is an idealized pool-type material testing reactor (MTR) used for comparing computational methods and codes in safety-related calculations. In this work, COMSOL multiphysics code was used for the neutronic calculations of the IAEA 10 MW MTR benchmark reactor, and a three-dimensional COMSOL model was developed for the reactor. As well as performing the neutronic calculation using finite element method and adaptive mesh refinement technique to increase the accuracy of the solution, this study used two core enrichments, HEU (93% of U235) and LEU (20% of U235), to model the fresh core. The beginning of life (BOL), end of life (EOL), and neutronic calculation for the six specified benchmark cases were also executed. In addition, WIMDS-D4 code was employed to generate the macroscopic cross-sections using its own 69 neutron-energy groups, with the collision probability option in one-dimensional slab geometry, to produce the two group constants for different reactor regions and burnup levels corresponding to different isotopes inventories. The calculations of the effective multiplication factor (keff) for the six specified benchmark cases show that the results of this study are in agreement with those of previous studies that use different codes based on diffusion theory and Monte Carlo methodologies. It was also noted that the predicted COMSOL spectra of thermal and fast fluxes were consistent with those obtained from various research centers.