Multiphysics Modeling of SNAP 10A/2 Space Reactor with Cardinal

TL;DR

This paper develops a high-fidelity multiphysics model of the SNAP 10/A space reactor using Cardinal, comparing neutronic benchmarks and experimental data to validate the coupled neutronic-thermal hydraulics simulation.

Contribution

It introduces a coupled multiphysics model of the SNAP 10/A reactor using Cardinal and compares it with benchmark data and experiments.

Findings

Neutronic benchmark differences of 304±70 pcm between OpenMC and MCNP5.

A 355 pcm difference between model predictions and experimental results.

Reasonable agreement of temperature results with reference calculations.

Abstract

The SNAP 10/A nuclear-powered satellite was launched into space in 1965. The present work discusses the development of a coupled neutronic-thermal hydraulics model with the high-fidelity multiphysics code Cardinal for SNAP 10/A. A comparison of neutronic benchmarks between OpenMC and MCNP5 shows a difference of 304+/-70 pcm. The primary source of difference is that MCNP5 uses a combination of cross-section libraries ENDF/B-VI and ENDF/B-V for minor isotopes. At the same time, the present work utilizes ENDF/B-VIII.0. A comparison against experimental results showed a difference of 355 pcm. A coupled model of the SNAP 10/A reactor is then developed in Cardinal. Temperature results show reasonable agreement with reference calculations.