Speaker
Dr
David Grabaskas
(Argonne National Laboratory)
Description
A mechanistic source term (MST) calculation attempts to realistically assess the transport and release of radionuclides from a reactor system to the environment during a specific accident sequence. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has repeated stated its expectation that advanced reactor vendors will utilize an MST during the U.S. reactor licensing process. As part of a project to examine possible impediments to sodium fast reactor (SFR) licensing in the U.S., an analysis was conducted regarding the current capabilities to perform an MST for a metal fuel SFR. The purpose of the project was to identify and prioritize any gaps in current computational tools, and the associated database, for the accurate assessment of an MST. The results of the study demonstrate that an SFR MST is possible with current tools and data, but several gaps exist that may lead to possibly unacceptable levels of uncertainty.
Country/Int. Organization
USA/Argonne National Laboratory
Primary authors
Dr
David Grabaskas
(Argonne National Laboratory)
Dr
James Jerden
(Argonne National Laboratory)
Dr
Matthew Bucknor
(Argonne National Laboratory)
