Development and validation of scale nuclear analysis methods for high temperature gas-cooled reactors

In support of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ORNL is updating the nuclear analysis methods and data in the SCALE code system to support modeling of HTGRs. Development activities include methods used for reactor physics, criticality safety, and radiation shielding. This paper focuses on the nuclear methods in support of reactor physics, which primarily include lattice physics for cross-section processing of both prismatic and pebble-bed designs, Monte Carlo depletion methods and efficiency improvements for double heterogeneous fuels, and validation against relevant experiments. These methods enhancements are being validated using available experimental data from the HTTR and HTR-10 startup and initial criticality experiments. Results obtained with three-dimensional Monte Carlo models of the HTTR initial core critical configurations with SCALE6/KENO show excellent agreement between the continuous energy and multigroup methods and the results are consistent with results obtained by others. A three-dimensional multigroup Monte Carlo model for the initial critical core of the HTR-10 has been developed with SCALE6/KENO based on the benchmark specifications included in the IRPhE Handbook. The core eigenvalue obtained with this model is in very good agreement with the corresponding value obtained with a consistent continuous energy MCNP5 core model.