Study of kinetic parameters in the RA-4 reactor by means of computational modeling and neutron noise measurements

It was carried out a study of the kinetic parameters of the reactor RA-4 (SUR-100 type reactor) by means of a simulation with calculation codes and a measurement with the neutron noise technique. For the simulation the WIMS (cell calculation) and PUMA (3D diffusion code to model a complete reactor) codes were used to estimate the ‘effective delayed neutron fraction’ (βeff), the ‘prompt neutron generation time’ (Λ), and the ‘prompt neutron decay constant’ (α). In addition, a sensitivity analysis was made to determine the best nuclear data evaluations for this model and the influence of variables such as the mean speed of neutrons, the nuclear delayed neutron fraction and the delayed neutron fission spectrum. The neutron noise technique was used to determine α. The comparison between the results for the value of α obtained by the simulation and the experience shows a good agreement. In this way the validity of a diffusion calculation for a small reactor with important heterogeneities is verified, making certain modifications to avoid the limitations of this theory.