Determination of the accuracy of utility spent fuel burnup records. Interim report

In order to develop a NRC-licensable burnup credit methodology, the pedigree and uncertainty of commercial spent nuclear fuel assembly burnup records needs to be established. Typically the assembly average burnup for each assembly is maintained in the plant records. It is anticipated that the repository for the disposal of spent fuel will utilize burnup credit and will require knowledge of the uncertainty of reactor burnup records. The uncertainty of the assembly average burnup record depends on the uncertainty of the method used to develop the record. Such records are generally based on core neutronic analysis coupled with analysis of in-core power detector data. This report evaluates the uncertainties in the burnup of fuel assemblies utilizing in-core measurements and core neutronic calculations for a Westinghouse PWR. To quantify the uncertainty, three cycles of in-core movable detector data were used. The data represents a first cycle of operation, a transition cycle and a low leakage cycle. These three cycles of data provide a true test of the uncertainty methodology. Three separate sets of results were used to characterize the burnup uncertainty of the fuel assemblies. The first set of results compared the measured and calculated reaction rates in instrumented assemblies and determined the uncertainty in the reaction rates. The second set of results determined the uncertainty in relative assembly power for both the instrumented and un-instrumented assemblies. The third set of results determined the burnup uncertainty of the discharged fuel in each cycle