Application of ASTEC v2.0 integral code on international standard problems (ISP-31, ISP-36 and ISP-46)

The new version v2.0 of the ASTEC integral code, jointly developed by IRSN (France) and GRS (Germany), was released in mid-2009. It includes a new degradation module based on the IRSN code ICARE. This paper presents the calculations performed in the frame of the FP7 project SARNET2. The International Standard Problems 31 and 36 proposed by OECD/NEA-CSNI addressed the bundle degradation experiments CORA-13 and CORA-W2 performed at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FzK). The integral code ASTEC v1.0 was used during the FP5 project EVITA to simulate the degradation phase of the experiments. Therefore, the newest ASTEC version v2.0 was also used in this paper and the results were compared to both the measured values and to the previously simulated ones. The considered parameters were the temperature profile and evolution in fuel and control rods, as well as hydrogen generated mass. All available Zr oxidation models were considered separately. The International Standard Problem 46 based on the Phebus-FPT1 integral experiment (IRSN Cadarache) was proposed by OECD/NEA-CSNI and it was also used during the time to validate various ASTEC models and assumptions. It was also done with ASTEC v2.0. The new models implemented in the modules ICARE, ELSA, SOPHAEROS and CPA were used and a detailed code-to-code comparison was performed. (author)