Simulation study on the effect of ODS cladding material on the criticality of nuclear reactors using MCNP5.

A simulation of the calculation of the criticality k_eff value of a reactor core has been carried out using different cladding materials using MCNP5. The cladding materials used in this simulation are ODS1, ODS2, SS 316L, aluminum, zircaloy-2, and zircaloy-4. Cladding materials using zirconium-based materials are very economical from a neutronic point of view because they have higher k_eff values compared with stainless steel-based cladding materials and have the highest melting point. However, due to the oxidation reaction between Zr and H₂O at high temperatures which produces hydrogen gas which causes an explosion, it is proposed to use stainless steel-based materials such as ODS steel as a substitute. The cladding material based on stainless steel is neutronically poor but compared to zirconium-based cladding material, it is more resistant to corrosion at high temperature, has better mechanical properties and the oxidation reaction of hydrogen gas formation at high temperature is very small. Therefore, one of the studies that focus on the use of stainless steel-based cladding materials such as ODS steel is a very interesting research topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]