Reactivity-Initiated Accident Fuel Rod Codes Benchmark Phases I-III : Synthesis Report

One of the key areas in fuel safety is the analysis of fuel behaviour under reactivity-initiated accident conditions. Reactivity-initiated accident fuel rod codes have been developed for a significant period of time and they all have shown their ability to reproduce some experimental results with a certain degree of adequacy. However, they sometimes rely on different specific modelling assumptions whose influence on the final results of the calculations is difficult to evaluate. This report summarises three phases of benchmark conducted by the NEA between 2010 and 2019 with codes for calculating fuel behaviour in reactivity initiated accidents. Building on previous NEA reports, it provides recommendations for future research and code enhancements for safety analysis regarding reactivity accidents.