Alternative three-dimensional flux synthesis technique for predicting reactor vessel flux

In 1984, the reactor vessel pressurized thermal shock (PTS) issue at Turkey Point was resolved by the Florida Power and Light (FP and L). Several specific tasks related to the PTS issue were identified and carried out. One of these tasks was to implement a reactor vessel flux reduction program. The major effort of the program was to develop a practical flux reduction scheme that was both economically and technically acceptable. The backbone of the flux reduction scheme is the insertion of innovatively designed partlength neutron absorber rods in fuel assemblies on the core flats, which result in a strong reduction in fast neutron flux at the most sensitive reactor vessel critical weld. Also, a parallel effort was made to develop an analytical method for predicting critical weld fast neutron flux resulting from the fuels with part-length rods