{"id":{"repo_id":"gatech","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.gatech.edu:1853/64187"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/gatech/oai:repository.gatech.edu:1853/64187","repository":{"repo_id":"gatech","name":"Georgia Tech","base_url":"https://repository.gatech.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Validation of Plant Buzz Operational Data Using Serpent-DYN3D Sequence","abstract":"The motivation for this work stems from the desire within the nuclear industry to improve the economic efficiency of the fuel cycle by moving to longer operational periods. The primary objective of this thesis is to validate the traditional two-step computational approach against given plant data, which is necessary for the design and modeling of alternative high-assay low-enriched fuel cycles with longer cycle lengths. An established computational sequence for modeling core behavior during the fuel cycle irradiation period involves the use of lattice codes followed by a nodal diffusion core solver. In this thesis, the Monte Carlo-based SERPENT code is coupled to the nodal diffusion code, DYN3D. The validation data focused on five cycles, and the analysis itself focused on the three benchmarking cycles. The first step in modeling these cycles was to generate the various cross section types in SERPENT that accounted for central fuel layers, blanket fuel layers, and reflector assemblies. Code-to-code verification was done prior to the benchmarking. This included 2D fuel assembly burnup analysis, 3D fuel assembly with dependencies analysis, and 2D full core comparisons. Very good agreement was obtained for all the examined models. The work also included sensitivity on few-group cross section generation. Finally, the implemented equilibrium search was applied to reproduce performance of the benchmarked cycles. The last part of this thesis concentrates on preliminary studies regarding the economic benefits of high-enriched cores, where the primary goal is to increase economic margins. In future research, the results obtained intended to be applied with the developed SERPENT-DYN3D computational sequence to investigate the behavior of a higher-enriched core.","abstract_html":"The motivation for this work stems from the desire within the nuclear industry to improve the economic efficiency of the fuel cycle by moving to longer operational periods. The primary objective of this thesis is to validate the traditional two-step computational approach against given plant data, which is necessary for the design and modeling of alternative high-assay low-enriched fuel cycles with longer cycle lengths. An established computational sequence for modeling core behavior during the fuel cycle irradiation period involves the use of lattice codes followed by a nodal diffusion core solver. In this thesis, the Monte Carlo-based SERPENT code is coupled to the nodal diffusion code, DYN3D. The validation data focused on five cycles, and the analysis itself focused on the three benchmarking cycles. The first step in modeling these cycles was to generate the various cross section types in SERPENT that accounted for central fuel layers, blanket fuel layers, and reflector assemblies. Code-to-code verification was done prior to the benchmarking. This included 2D fuel assembly burnup analysis, 3D fuel assembly with dependencies analysis, and 2D full core comparisons. Very good agreement was obtained for all the examined models. The work also included sensitivity on few-group cross section generation. Finally, the implemented equilibrium search was applied to reproduce performance of the benchmarked cycles. The last part of this thesis concentrates on preliminary studies regarding the economic benefits of high-enriched cores, where the primary goal is to increase economic margins. In future research, the results obtained intended to be applied with the developed SERPENT-DYN3D computational sequence to investigate the behavior of a higher-enriched core.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kazaroff, Coral Hannah"],"institution":"Georgia Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Mechanical Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Kotlyar, Dan"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Erickson, Anna","Petrovic, Bojan","Guzzardo, Michelle"],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-12-07","date_published":"2020-12-07","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:32Z","subjects":["Nuclear fuel cycle","nodal diffusion codes","nuclear economics"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1853/64187","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Kotlyar, Dan"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Erickson, Anna","Petrovic, Bojan","Guzzardo, Michelle"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kazaroff, Coral Hannah"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2021-01-11T17:13:45Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-01-11T17:13:45Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020-12-07"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Georgia Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Nuclear fuel cycle","nodal diffusion codes","nuclear economics"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1853/64187"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The motivation for this work stems from the desire within the nuclear industry to improve the economic efficiency of the fuel cycle by moving to longer operational periods. The primary objective of this thesis is to validate the traditional two-step computational approach against given plant data, which is necessary for the design and modeling of alternative high-assay low-enriched fuel cycles with longer cycle lengths. An established computational sequence for modeling core behavior during the fuel cycle irradiation period involves the use of lattice codes followed by a nodal diffusion core solver. In this thesis, the Monte Carlo-based SERPENT code is coupled to the nodal diffusion code, DYN3D. The validation data focused on five cycles, and the analysis itself focused on the three benchmarking cycles. The first step in modeling these cycles was to generate the various cross section types in SERPENT that accounted for central fuel layers, blanket fuel layers, and reflector assemblies. Code-to-code verification was done prior to the benchmarking. This included 2D fuel assembly burnup analysis, 3D fuel assembly with dependencies analysis, and 2D full core comparisons. Very good agreement was obtained for all the examined models. The work also included sensitivity on few-group cross section generation. Finally, the implemented equilibrium search was applied to reproduce performance of the benchmarked cycles. The last part of this thesis concentrates on preliminary studies regarding the economic benefits of high-enriched cores, where the primary goal is to increase economic margins. In future research, the results obtained intended to be applied with the developed SERPENT-DYN3D computational sequence to investigate the behavior of a higher-enriched core."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Validation of Plant Buzz Operational Data Using Serpent-DYN3D Sequence"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Kotlyar, Dan"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Erickson, Anna","Petrovic, Bojan","Guzzardo, Michelle"],"dc:contributor.department":["Mechanical Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Kazaroff, Coral Hannah"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2021-01-11T17:13:45Z"],"dc:date.available":["2021-01-11T17:13:45Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2020-12-07"],"dc:description.abstract":["The motivation for this work stems from the desire within the nuclear industry to improve the economic efficiency of the fuel cycle by moving to longer operational periods. The primary objective of this thesis is to validate the traditional two-step computational approach against given plant data, which is necessary for the design and modeling of alternative high-assay low-enriched fuel cycles with longer cycle lengths. An established computational sequence for modeling core behavior during the fuel cycle irradiation period involves the use of lattice codes followed by a nodal diffusion core solver. In this thesis, the Monte Carlo-based SERPENT code is coupled to the nodal diffusion code, DYN3D. The validation data focused on five cycles, and the analysis itself focused on the three benchmarking cycles. The first step in modeling these cycles was to generate the various cross section types in SERPENT that accounted for central fuel layers, blanket fuel layers, and reflector assemblies. Code-to-code verification was done prior to the benchmarking. This included 2D fuel assembly burnup analysis, 3D fuel assembly with dependencies analysis, and 2D full core comparisons. Very good agreement was obtained for all the examined models. The work also included sensitivity on few-group cross section generation. Finally, the implemented equilibrium search was applied to reproduce performance of the benchmarked cycles. The last part of this thesis concentrates on preliminary studies regarding the economic benefits of high-enriched cores, where the primary goal is to increase economic margins. In future research, the results obtained intended to be applied with the developed SERPENT-DYN3D computational sequence to investigate the behavior of a higher-enriched core."],"dc:description.degree":["M.S."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1853/64187"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:publisher":["Georgia Institute of Technology"],"dc:subject":["Nuclear fuel cycle","nodal diffusion codes","nuclear economics"],"dc:title":["Validation of Plant Buzz Operational Data Using Serpent-DYN3D Sequence"],"dc:type":["Text"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:32Z"}