Determination, control and reduction of biais and uncertainties on reactivity of the Jules Horowitz Reactor

The neutronics calculation scheme HORUS3D/N is dedicated to the design and safety studies of the Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR). The control of the whole neutronics parameters of the JHR must be ensured for the safety report. This work focuses in the determination and control of uncertainties on the reactivity of the Jules Horowitz reactor due to nuclear data. A rigorous and consistent method was used. It leads to the identification and quantification of the bias and the uncertainty bias due to nuclear data on the reactivity of the considered case: the Jules Horowitz Reactor. Several steps were followed: - the set-up of a reliable dataset of covariance matrices on nuclear data of the isotopes of interest, - the sensitivity studies to nuclear data of the representative experiment and the reactor, - an accurate determination of the technological uncertainties using an innovative method, - a transposition stage of the experimental bias and the associated uncertainty due to nuclear data using the representativity method applied to the JHR. These steps were performed using the CEA's reference calculation tools (Monte-Carlo calculation code TRIPOLI4, deterministic codes APOLLO2 and CRONOS2, evaluation code CONRAD), the European JEFF-3.1.1 nuclear data evaluation and a suitable set of uncertainty propagation, marginalization and transposition techniques. The propagation of uncertainties on nuclear data contained by the variance-covariance matrices concludes to a prior uncertainty of 637 pcm (1σ) on the JHR reactivity for U3Si2Al fuel enriched to 19.75% in 235U. The interpretation of the oscillations of the VALMONT program allowed the experimental validation of the JEFF-3.1.1 nuclear data concerning the JHR fuel and highlights the good agreement of their uncertainties Thus, the interpretation of the reactivity of the AMMON/Reference core was done with the JEFF-3.1.1 evaluation (and Monte-Carlo code TRIPOLI4) and shows a bias of + 376 pcm. A fine study of the technological uncertainties leads to a value of 340 pcm (1σ) on the reactivity and the propagation of the nuclear data uncertainties on the reactivity amounts to 671 pcm (1σ). Transposition and reduction of the bias and prior nuclear data uncertainty were made using the Representativity method which demonstrates the similarity of the AMMON experiment with JHR. The final impact of JEFF-3.1.1 nuclear data on the Begin of Life JHR reactivity calculated by the HORUS3D/N V4.0 (U3Si2Al fuel enriched to 19.75% in 235U) is a bias of +266 pcm with an associated posterior uncertainty of 352 pcm (1σ).

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Source https://theses.hal.science/tel-00820111
Author Leray, Olivier
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 11, 2026, 05:44 (UTC)
Created May 11, 2026, 05:44 (UTC)
Identifier NNT: 2012GRENI064
Language fr
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Groupement énergétique de Cadarache ; Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (ADEME)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)
creator Leray, Olivier
date 2012-09-25T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 301ade4b-2da6-4694-a562-85b0f858265a
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2026-03-31T00:00:00
set_spec type:THESE