Monte Carlo simulation for calculation of kinetic parameters in an Accelerator Driven Subcritical TRIGA reactor

Highlights: • Among the kinetic parameters, the most important ones are β_eff and Λ. • Several methods including the Rossi-α and Feynman-α techniques, slope fit and MCNPX code have been investigated. • The Monte Carlo MCNPX code was used to simulate a geometrical model of the TRIGA core. • The results of the methods have been validated. - Abstract: In this study, noise analysis techniques including Feynman-α (variance-to-mean) and Rossi-α (correlation) and dynamic method such as slope fit method have been used to calculate effective delayed neutron fraction (β_eff) and neutron reproduction time (Λ) in Accelerator Driven Subcritical TRIGA reactor. The obtained results have been compared with MCNPX code results. The relative difference between MCNPX code with Feynman-α and Rossi-α techniques and slope fit method for β_eff are approximately −5.4%, 1.2%, and −10.6%, −14.8%, respectively, and also for Λ is approximately 2.1%. According to results, the noise methods can been considered ideal for detection with high efficiency and zero dead time and in the slope fit method, the decay of the delayed neutrons has been neglected and only the prompt neutrons have been taken into account. In addition, quantities simulated in the current study are validated against both the reference data and the results of MCNPX code. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to simulate the commonly used experimental methods by MCNPX code and investigate the convergence as well as accuracy of the computational results for different analysis methods in calculation of the kinetic parameters in an Accelerator Driven Subcritical TRIGA reactor