Automated core-follow calculations using the reactor physics workbench

Operation of the U.K.'s advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) requires regular core-follow calculations in order to confirm compliance with operational limits both in the recent past and sufficiently far into the future to reach the next core-follow update. With more frequent calculations, we can allow smaller margins to cover this future period, leading directly to higher station output. Estimated paybacks are in the region of Brit-pounds 1 million per reactor per year. The incentive for more frequent calculations is therefore large, but several developments were essential before they became feasible: (1) availability of fast, relatively cheap, engineering work-stations; (2) physics codes that would run on workstation hardware; and (3) automation of the core-follow process-from plant data collection through to archiving of results