ORPHEE research reactor: 3D core depletion calculation using Monte-Carlo code TRIPOLI-4®

ORPHEE is a research reactor located at CEA Saclay. It aims at producing neutron beams for experiments. This is a pool-type reactor (heavy water), and the core is cooled by light water. Its thermal power is 14 MW. ORPHEE core is 90 cm height and has a cross section of 27 × 27 cm2. It is loaded with eight fuel assemblies characterized by a various number of fuel plates. The fuel plate is composed of aluminium and High Enriched Uranium (HEU). It is a once through core with a fuel cycle length of approximately 100 Equivalent Full Power Days (EFPD) and with a maximum burnup of 40%. Various analyses under progress at CEA concern the determination of the core neutronic parameters during irradiation. Taking into consideration the geometrical complexity of the core and the quasi absence of thermal feedback for nominal operation, the 3D core depletion calculations are performed using the Monte-Carlo code TRIPOLI-4® (Both and Peneliau, 1996; Trama et al., 2012; Brun, 2011). A preliminary validation of the depletion calculation was performed on a 2D core configuration by comparison with the deterministic transport code APOLLO2 (Sanchez, 2009). The analysis showed the reliability of TRIPOLI-4® to calculate a complex core configuration using a large number of depleting regions with a high level of confidence.