Qinshan CANDU project simulation of reactor physics tests at low power

Two new CANDU 6 reactors located in Qinshan, China, have recently been added to AECL's CANDU family. As a result of a very successful project, the first unit entered commercial operation in December 2002. As with all CANDU reactors, a series of physics tests were performed after first criticality was achieved. These tests were presimulated with the RFSP code and the results were compared to the measured data. The Phase-B commissioning is described in this paper, with an emphasis on lessons learned and quality of the fit of the measurements to the presimulations. The measured device reactivity worths in terms of changes in zone controller fills compared well with the results of the presimulations. Good agreement was also obtained between precalculated fluxes at detector locations and measured detector readings for all rundown tests. These results give confidence that the shutdown systems and reactor regulating system are functioning as expected and also provide validation of the Qinshan RFSP model. (author)