Investigation of uncertainty caused by random arrangement of coated fuel particles in HTTR criticality calculations

Highlights: • The HTTR model with realized random arrangement of CFPs was developed. • The k_eff is independent of random arrangement pattern of CFPs. • The RRP model shows a lower k_eff than the uniform model. • The more number of fuel column, the greater the difference in k_eff between the RRP and uniform models. • The RRP model is recommended for high accuracy benchmark assessment. - Abstract: Coated fuel particle (CFP) is one of important factors attributing to the inherent safety feature of high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR). However, the random arrangement of CFPs makes the simulation more complicated, becoming one of the factors affects the accuracy of the HTTR criticality calculations. In this study, an explicit random model for CFPs arrangement, namely realized random packing (RRP), was developed for the whole core of HTTR using a Monte-Carlo MCNP6 code. The effect of random placement of CFPs was investigated by making a comparison between the RRP and conventional uniform models. The results showed that the RRP model gave a lower excess reactivity than that of the uniform model, and the more number of fuel columns loading into the core, the greater the difference in excess reactivity between the RRP and uniform models. For example, the difference in excess reactivity increased from 0.07 to 0.17 %Δk/k when the number of fuel column increased from 9 to 30. Regarding the control rods position prediction, the RRP showed the results, which were closer to experiment than the uniform model. In addition, the difference in control rods position between the RRP and uniform models also increases from 12 to 17 mm as increasing number of fuel columns from 19 to 30.