Nuclear design of a recharge Iberdrola

Iberdrola has developed an in house core management methodology, the GIRALDA methodology, which has been approved by the Spanish Nuclear Regulatory Authority (CSN) for reload design and licensing of Cofrentes NPP (BWR). The codes used in this methodology are independent from fuel vendors codes. The application of this methodology is given satisfactory results and the connection between design, licensing activities and operation experiences is generating synergy's with benefits in plant knowledge and safety. For each one of the cycles, predicted and actual values have been very close for cold criticalities and for core operation. In addition, a core monitoring tool (CAPRICORE) based on the design codes (CASMO-SIMULATE) has been developed. CAPRICORE runs as the plant official monitoring systems. (Author) 5 refs.