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Godzilla is helping ITER prepare for tokamak assembly
ITER employees stand by Godzilla, the most powerful commercially available industrial robot available. (Photo: ITER)
Many people are familiar with Godzilla as a giant reptilian monster that emerged from the sea off the coast of Japan, the product of radioactive contamination. These days, there is a new Godzilla, but it has a positive—and entirely fact-based—association with nuclear energy. This one has emerged inside the Tokamak Assembly Preparation Building of ITER in southern France.
Charles F. Karlson
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 1 | September 1995 | Pages 57-66
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24129
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for the generation of in-core constants from the SIMULATE-3 advanced reactor analysis code is presented. This method builds on prior work at the Southern California Edison Company for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and is now applied to the Combustion Engineering System 80 units at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS). Power-to-signal ratios, assembly coupling coefficients, pin peaking factors, and Fourier Series analysis are shown to reproduce the SIMULATE-3 solution extremely well. Correction of SIMULATE-3 calculated in-core detector fluxes and cross sections for rhodium shielding and homogeneous-to-heterogeneous geometries are discussed. Calculated and measured detector signals are compared to confirm the ability to calculate the rhodium reaction rates needed for the power-to-signal ratio and are found to be within 2%.Core maximum power peaking factors and a radial assembly power distribution for PVNGS Unit 3 cycle 5 show excellent agreement with differences <2% in maximum power locations. This work is the basis for future improved reactor surveillance methods, with the realization of significant thermal margin gains from reduced uncertainties in the core protection system.