The Verification of depletion capabilities in RMC and APOLLO2/COCAGNE based on KAIST 1A benchmark

EDF R and D and the Department of Engineering Physics of Tsinghua University have cooperated to make code to code comparisons for their newly improved codes, APOLLO2/COCAGNE and RMC. As an extension to the previous collaboration on a 3D neutron transport PWR benchmark, the goal of this paper is to validate burnup capabilities in APOLLO2/COCAGNE and RMC based on the KAIST 1A benchmark. Before launching the core depletion calculation, the assembly calculations and the core criticality calculation were performed to identify the discrepancies between these two code systems. The comparisons focus on multiplication factors (K_inf or K_eff), flux, reaction rates, power and concentrations of several isotopes. The results of the final core depletion calculation are in good agreement and thus the burnup capability of both APOLLO2/COCAGNE and RMC is stable and reliable. (authors)