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DOE OSTI2023

Release of a High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) Steady State Multiphysics Model to the Virtual Test Bed

In response to climate change, global governments and private industry have established a common goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 \cite{osti_1865910}. This goal requires a reassessment of current energy demands and production methods. Reducing emissions at an affordable cost while maintaining grid reliability requires a nationwide collaborative effort among government and industry in the United States. Nuclear power is the leading low-carbon electricity generation method. In the past 50 years, the use of nuclear power has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 60 gigatons and has played a crucial role in the security of energy supply~\cite{IEA}. In the U.S., nuclear power accounts for 20\% of the electrical supply and provides energy reliably. Advanced reactors will operate at higher temperatures, operate more efficiently, utilize more energy stored within fuel, and reduce the amount of waste produced \cite{osti_1616270}. To face these challenges and goals, the U.S. Department of Energy has created an initiative to focus on the modeling and simulation tools to support future nuclear power plant design, licensing, and operations. The Virtual Test Bed (VTB)~\cite{vtb2023} was launched by the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) in collaboration with the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program to support the advanced nuclear reactor community. The VTB involves teams from both Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory and aims to provide example models for a broad range of both current and future advanced reactor designs. A feature of the VTB is the automatic testing of these models to ensure continued functionality as simulation tools are further developed. The VTB and the advanced reactor models documented there are important resources for this initiative. This work describes the inclusion of a new model on the VTB---a High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) steady-state model \cite{LABOURE2023109838}.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Release of a High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) Steady-State Multiphysics Model to the Virtual Test Bed

The National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) accelerates the demonstration and deployment of advanced nuclear energy through inspiring stakeholders and the public, empowering innovators, and delivering successful outcomes. The Virtual Test Bed (VTB) supports this mission by providing an open-source repository of advanced test reactor models for industry, academia, and the public to utilize. During my time at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), I: • Verified the input files of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor • Generated computational results • Created user documentation for the HTTR • Uploaded a steady-state HTTR model to the Virtual Test Bed • Authored a conference publication on the model

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Validation of the U.S. NRC NGNP evaluation model with the HTTR

The High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR) was modeled with TRITON/PARCS. Traditional light water reactor (LWR) homogenization methods rely on the short mean free paths of neutrons in LWR. In gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactors like the HTTR neutrons have much longer mean free paths and penetrate further into neighboring assemblies than in LWRs. Because of this, conventional lattice calculations with a single assembly may not be valid. In addition to difficulties caused by the longer mean free paths, the HTTR presents unique axial and radial heterogeneities that require additional modifications to the single assembly homogenization method. To handle these challenges, the homogenization domain is decreased while the computational domain is increased. Instead of homogenizing a single hexagonal fuel assembly, the assembly is split into six triangles on the radial plane and five blocks axially in order to account for the placement of burnable poisons. Furthermore, the radial domain is increased beyond a single fuel assembly to account for spectrum effects from neighboring fuel, reflector, and control rod assemblies. A series of five two-dimensional cases, each closer to the full core, were calculated to evaluate the effectiveness of the homogenization method and cross-sections. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2010

A Simplified HTTR Diffusion Theory Benchmark

The Georgia Institute of Technology (GA-Tech) recently developed a transport theory benchmark based closely on the geometry and the features of the HTTR reactor that is operational in Japan. Though simplified, the benchmark retains all the principal physical features of the reactor and thus provides a realistic and challenging test for the codes. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is an extension of the benchmark to diffusion theory applications by generating the additional data not provided in the GA-Tech prior work. The second goal is to use the benchmark on the HEXPEDITE code available to the INL. The HEXPEDITE code is a Green’s function-based neutron diffusion code in 3D hexagonal-z geometry. The results showed that the HEXPEDITE code accurately reproduces the effective multiplication factor of the reference HELIOS solution. A secondary, but no less important, conclusion is that in the testing against actual HTTR data of a full sequence of codes that would include HEXPEDITE, in the apportioning of inevitable discrepancies between experiment and models, the portion of error attributable to HEXPEDITE would be expected to be modest. If large discrepancies are observed, they would have to be explained by errors in the data fed into HEXPEDITE. Results based on a fully realistic model of the HTTR reactor are presented in a companion paper. The suite of codes used in that paper also includes HEXPEDITE. The results shown here should help that effort in the decision making process for refining the modeling steps in the full sequence of codes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

UO{sub 2} and PuO{sub 2} utilization in high temperature engineering test reactor with helium coolant

High temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) is one of high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) types which has been developed by Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). The HTTR is a graphite moderator, helium gas coolant, 30 MW thermal output and 950 °C outlet coolant temperature for high temperature test operation. Original HTTR uses UO{sub 2} fuel. In this study, we have evaluated the use of UO{sub 2} and PuO{sub 2} in form of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in HTTR. The reactor cell calculation was performed by using SRAC 2002 code, with nuclear data library was derived from JENDL3.2. The result shows that HTTR can obtain its criticality condition if the enrichment of {sup 235}U in loaded fuel is 18.0% or above.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Nuclear design of small-sized high temperature gas-cooled reactor for developing countries

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has started a conceptual design of a small-sized HTGR with 50 MW thermal power (HTR50S), which is a first-of-a-kind commercial or demonstration plant of a small-sized HTGR to be deployed in developing countries such as Kazakhstan in the 2020's. The nuclear design of the HTR50S is performed by upgrading the proven technology of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) to reduce the cost for the construction. In the HTTR design, twelve kinds of fuel enrichment was used to optimize the power distribution, which is required to make the maximum fuel temperature below the thermal limitation during the burn-up period. However, manufacture of many kinds of fuel enrichment causes increase of the construction cost. To solve this problem, the present study challenges the nuclear design by reducing the number of fuel enrichment to as few as possible. The nuclear calculations were performed with SRAC code system whose validity was proven by the HTTR burn-up data. The calculation results suggested that the optimization of the power distribution was reasonably achieved and the maximum fuel temperature was kept below the limitation by using three kinds of fuel enrichment. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

HTTR 3 D Cross Section Generation with Serpent and MAMMOTH

The High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR) is a graphite moderated thermal reactor with a nominal power output of 30 MWth. The purpose of this work is to prepare a set of neutron cross sections for use in the transient analyses of three Loss of Forced Cooling (LOFC) events planned for this reactor. The cross sections are generated with the Serpent 2 3 D Monte Carlo code to include the axial heterogeneity and the strong axial coupling of this core. The approach yields good agreement of results when compared to previously used 2 D lattice models, which require a fine spatial discretization and, surprisingly, comes at a higher computational cost. In addition, the temperature distribution must be considered to obtain reasonable cross sections and the axial leakage component dominates the spectral effects in the core. Consequently, a temperature model as a function of the fuel and moderator temperatures is adopted, and the core is depleted to 390 effective full-power days (EFPDs). A full tabulation of cross sections is prepared at this burnup point for a variety of fuel and moderator temperatures. Next, the multiphysics reactor application MAMMOTH is used to evaluate the quality of these cross sections using a diffusion solver. As expected, the homogenization error in the cross sections is significant and the Super Homogenization (SPH) correction from MAMMOTH is necessary to preserve key reaction rates. The SPH corrected MAMMOTH results are in excellent agreement with the Serpent results and reproduce both the reference power profile and temperature coefficients at each tabulation point. This fact confirms the accuracy of the SPH corrected cross sections and demonstrates the maturity of using Serpent 2 and MAMMOTH for 3 D cross section generation, even for reactors as complex as the HTTR. Finally, the authors recommend that the cross sections should be parametrized with the local burnup and that a full core burnup calculation with coupled thermal fluids would provide a better estimate of the initial condition for any subsequent transient analysis. Unfortunately, this was not within the scope of this work, and direct analysis with these tabulations should be considered as a first order approximation, at best.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Sensitivity analysis of xenon reactivity temperature dependency for HTTR LOFC test by using Relap5-3D code - 18365

A high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) has superior safety characteristics. A loss of forced cooling (LOFC) test using a high-temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) was carried out to verify the inherent safety characteristic of HTGR when forced cooling is diminished without reactor scram. In the test, all-gas circulators were tripped with an initial reactor power of 9 MW. The reactor power decreased from 9 MW to 0 MW by negative reactivity feedback in the core. Re-criticality was shown after about 8 h. This study focused on developing a point kinetics method with RELAP5-3D code for an LOFC accident. For future HTGR design and safety analysis, point kinetics method is important because of simple method. One key element of the point kinetics method is the reactivity performance estimation. There is a large temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the core in HTGR, and the temperature fluctuation range has been large in several accidents. We analyze the temperature dependency of xenon-135 reactivity and show that the temperature dependency of xenon-135 microscopic absorption cross-section affected the re-criticality time of the LOFC test. This finding will be useful for predicting the emerging time and the peak level of reactor power increase after becoming re-critical. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Improvements to PHISICS/RELAP5-3D{sup C} Capabilities for Simulating HTGRs

Accurate, high-resolution full core simulations of prismatic high temperature reactors for burnup and transient analysis remain a challenge. The cores are geometrically large, but some features are quite small (tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particles, burnable poison pellets). The treatment of both neutron scattering in graphite and resonance capture are complex and not adequately captured using the methods traditionally used in High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGR) and commonly used in Light Water Reactors (LWR). For transient analysis, temperature feedback is a function of the TRISO fuel form, but full core models cannot resolve phenomena at this scale without averaging over space and energy. For burnup calculations, a second level of heterogeneity must be resolved to capture the local effects of fuel and burnable poisons, while accurately propagating their effects through and between blocks. The HTGR Methods and Simulation group has been utilizing the INL-developed PHISICS/RELAP5-3D{sup C} (P/R), code suite for participation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Modular High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) Benchmark, funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) program. The MHTGR-350 benchmark consists of several lattice, steady-state and transient exercises, and the P/R code has been successfully applied to most of the cases defined. In addition to this code-to-code verification activity, it is planned that P/R will be validated using data from several Loss of Forced Cooling (LOFC) tests performed at the High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR) in a joint effort with Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) under the Civil Nuclear Energy Working Group (CNWG) project. These verification and validation simulations will identify code and model discrepancies, sensitivities, and establish the current state-of-the-art in HTGR simulation. The Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), 'Sapienza' University has been involved in the development of P/R since 2014 through various graduate and PhD student projects. In the framework of this collaboration the P/R optimization for application on the OECD MHTGR-350 and HTTR models will be carried out.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2016

HTTR-GT/H2 test plant - conceptual design study on new intermediate heat exchanger - 18747

Japan Atomic Energy Agency is developing a nuclear cogeneration demonstration test facility named HTTR-GT/H2 that is connected to the existing test reactor HTTR. In the facility, an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) at maximum service temperature of 900 deg. C is to be newly constructed to supply the high temperature helium flows to both the helium gas turbine system and the hydrogen production system. The conceptual design study on the IHX is conducted considering the future application to the Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor 300 Cogeneration (GTHTR300C). Several new concepts are proposed and incorporated in the demonstrating IHX design in order to (1) ease integration of the IHX with the gas turbine system to simplify the cogeneration plant layout; (2) allow conventional low-cost steel for construction of the IHX pressure vessel and nozzles; (3) flexibility to accommodate thermal expansion of the bundle and internal structures.; (4) maintaining the structural integrity at elevated service temperature range. This paper describes the conceptual design study results for the IHX and technical issues to be solved in the future design phases. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

PHISICS/RELAP5-3D Adaptive Time-Step Method Demonstrated for the HTTR LOFC#1 Simulation

A collaborative effort between Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as part of the Civil Nuclear Energy Working Group is underway to model the high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) loss of forced cooling (LOFC) transient that was performed in December 2010. The coupled version of RELAP5-3D, a thermal fluids code, and PHISICS, a neutronics code, were used to model the transient. The focus of this report is to summarize the changes made to the PHISICS-RELAP5-3D code for implementing an adaptive time step methodology into the code for the first time, and to test it using the full HTTR PHISICS/RELAP5-3D model developed by JAEA and INL and the LOFC simulation. Various adaptive schemes are available based on flux or power convergence criteria that allow significantly larger time steps to be taken by the neutronics module. The report includes a description of the HTTR and the associated PHISICS/RELAP5-3D model test results as well as the University of Rome sub-contractor report documenting the adaptive time step theory and methodology implemented in PHISICS/RELAP5-3D. Two versions of the HTTR model were tested using 8 and 26 energy groups. It was found that most of the new adaptive methods lead to significant improvements in the LOFC simulation time required without significant accuracy penalties in the prediction of the fission power and the fuel temperature. In the best performing 8 group model scenarios, a LOFC simulation of 20 hours could be completed in real-time, or even less than real-time, compared with the previous version of the code that completed the same transient 3-8 times slower than real-time. A few of the user choice combinations between the methodologies available and the tolerance settings did however result in unacceptably high errors or insignificant gains in simulation time. The study is concluded with recommendations on which methods to use for this HTTR model. An important caveat is that these findings are very model-specific and cannot be generalized to other PHISICS/RELAP5-3D models.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2012

Concept of an inherently-safe high temperature gas-cooled reactor

As the challenge to ensure no harmful release of radioactive materials at the accidents by deterministic approach instead to satisfy acceptance criteria or safety goal for risk by probabilistic approach, new concept of advanced reactor, an inherently-safe high temperature gas-cooled reactor, is proposed based on the experience of the operation of the actual High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) in Japan, High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), and the design of the commercial plant (GTHTR300), utilizing the inherent safety features of the HTGR (i.e., safety features based on physical phenomena). The safety design philosophy of the inherently-safe HTGR for the safety analysis of the radiological consequences is determined as the confinement of radioactive materials is assured by only inherent safety features without engineered safety features, AC power or prompt actions by plant personnel if the design extension conditions occur. Inherent safety features to prevent the loss or degradation of the confinement function are identified. It is proposed not to apply the probabilistic approach for the evaluation of the radiological consequences of the accidents in the safety analysis because no inherent safety features fail for the mitigation of the consequences of the accidents. Consequently, there are no event sequences to harmful release of radioactive materials if the design extension conditions occur in the inherently-safe HTGR concept. The concept and future R and D items for the inherently-safe HTGR are described in this paper.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

NEA HTTR LOFC Project Test#2 Benchmark Results

The High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) is a 30 MW prismatic high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) owned and operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Staring in 2010, HTTR was used in a series of three loss of forced cooling (LOFC) tests without SCRAM to demonstrate the inherent safety of HTGRs.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of safety requirements for HTGRs design - 18467

The safety requirements for the design of High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs), which is analogous to the IAEA specific safety requirements (SSR) for Light Water Reactor (LWR) design (IAEA SSR-2/1), has been developed by the research committee established in the Atomic Energy Society of Japan so as to incorporate the HTGR safety features demonstrated by High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), lessons learned from the accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and requirements for the coupling of the hydrogen production plants with nuclear plant. The safety design approach was determined to establish a high level of safety design standards by utilizing inherent safety features of HTGRs. The safety requirements is then developed using the objectives provisions tree methodology based on the safety design approach. The requirements for a structural integrity of fuel during accident conditions, for a confinement structure instead of a leak-tight pressure resistance containment vessel, for a passive residual heat removal from outside of reactor pressure vessel, etc., which are significantly different from those of LWR, are stated in the developed safety requirements. This paper describes overview of the proposed HTGR specific safety requirements. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Benchmark analysis of high temperature engineering test reactor core using McCARD code

A benchmark calculation has been performed for a startup core physics test of Japan's High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). The calculation is carried out by the McCARD code, which adopts the Monte Carlo method. The cross section library is ENDF-B/VII.0. The fuel cell is modeled by the reactivity-equivalent physical transform (RPT) method. Effective multiplication factors with different numbers of fuel columns have been analyzed. The calculation shows that the HTTR becomes critical with 19 fuel columns with an excess reactivity of 0.84% Δk/k. The discrepancies between the measurements and Monte Carlo calculations are 2.2 and 1.4 % Δk/k for 24 and 30 columns, respectively. The reasons for the discrepancy are thought to be the current version of cross section library and the impurity in the graphite which is represented by the boron concentration. In the future, the depletion results will be proposed for further benchmark calculations. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of a core coolant flow distribution calculation code for HTGRs - 18484

In order to ensure the thermal integrity of fuel in high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs), it is necessary that the maximum fuel temperature in the normal operation is to be lower than the thermal design target. In the core thermal-hydraulic design of block-type HTGRs, the maximum fuel temperature should be evaluated considering data such as thermal power, core geometry, power and neutron fluence distributions, and core coolant flow distribution. The core coolant flow distribution calculation code used in the design stage of High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) presupposes to run on UNIX systems, and its operation and execution procedure are complicated and not user-friendly. Therefore, a new core coolant flow distribution calculation code with a user-friendly system such as simple and easy operations and execution procedures has been developed. In this paper, the outline of the new code is described and the simulation result of an out-of-pile test with one fuel column are shown as the first step of the code validation. The simulation results provide good agreement with the test one. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Deterministic Modeling of the High Temperature Test Reactor with DRAGON-HEXPEDITE

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is tasked with the development of reactor physics analysis capability of the Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP) project. In order to examine the INL’s current prismatic reactor analysis tools, the project is conducting a benchmark exercise based on modeling the High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR). This exercise entails the development of a model for the initial criticality, a 19 fuel column thin annular core, and the fully loaded core critical condition with 30 fuel columns. Special emphasis is devoted to physical phenomena and artifacts in HTTR that are similar to phenomena and artifacts in the NGNP base design. The DRAGON code is used in this study since it offers significant ease and versatility in modeling prismatic designs. DRAGON can generate transport solutions via Collision Probability (CP), Method of Characteristics (MOC) and Discrete Ordinates (Sn). A fine group cross-section library based on the SHEM 281 energy structure is used in the DRAGON calculations. The results from this study show reasonable agreement in the calculation of the core multiplication factor with the MC methods, but a consistent bias of 2-3% with the experimental values is obtained. This systematic error has also been observed in other HTTR benchmark efforts and is well documented in the literature. The ENDF/B VII graphite and U 235 cross sections appear to be the main source of the error. The isothermal temperature coefficients calculated with the fully loaded core configuration agree well with other benchmark participants but are 40% higher than the experimental values. This discrepancy with the measurement partially stems from the fact that during the experiments the control rods were adjusted to maintain criticality, whereas in the model, the rod positions were fixed. In addition, this work includes a brief study of a cross section generation approach that seeks to decouple the domain in order to account for neighbor effects. This spectral interpenetration is a dominant effect in annular HTR physics. This analysis methodology should be further explored in order to reduce the error that is systematically propagated in the traditional generation of cross sections.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

NEA HTTR LOFC Project Test#3 Benchmark Results

In the second half of FY23, the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) Loss Of Forced Cooling (LOFC)#3 data for the 9 MW test case with Vessel Cooling System (VCS) off were made available through the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) LOFC project framework; the neutronic model developed for the initial test (LOFC#1) achieved a satisfactory level of maturity, demonstrating its accuracy in predicting power evolution and core re-criticality, but LOFC#3 should be used primarily to investigate thermal hydraulic phenomena, as the reactor was shut down prematurely due to overheating in the upper reactor components, which prevented re-criticality; this report focuses on advancing the HTTR thermal hydraulic model to accurately simulate the LOFC#3 scenario, including simulating the LOFC#3 benchmark and generating the corresponding benchmark specifications, aiming to ensure consistency across participant models and provide essential data for future participants, including private industry stakeholders seeking to validate their computational tools.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗