2025/05/06 by Maximiliano Dalinger, Dalinger, Maximiliano, Elia Merzari +7
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphite, nuclear technology, radiation studies #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.04024
openalex publication_date 2025/05/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
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.