Publications de Hakim Ferroukhi

Monte Carlo analysis of BWR geometries using a cycle check-up methodology

Abdelhamid Dokhane, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev, Mathieu Hursin, Dimitri Rochman

Recent fuel anomalies at a Swiss power plant have motivated the development at PSI of the "Cycle Check-Up" (CHUP) methodology which consists in performing Monte Carlo transport calculations using nuclide compositions and thermal-hydraulic boundary conditio ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Optimisation of used nuclear fuel canister loading using a neural network and genetic algorithm

Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev, Dimitri Rochman

This paper presents an approach for the optimisation of geological disposal canister loadings, combining high resolution simulations of used nuclear fuel characteristics with an articial neural network and a genetic algorithm. The used nuclear fuels (produ ...

SPRINGER LONDON LTD2021

Loading optimization for Swiss used nuclear fuel assemblies into final disposal canisters (vol 370, 110897, 2020)

Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev, Dimitri Rochman

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2021

Treatment of the implicit effect in Shark-X

Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev, Mathieu Hursin

Shark-X is a set of Perl-based tools build around the deterministic neutron transport code CASMO-5, used to perform uncertainty quantification for lattice calculations at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI). While perturbing an input parameter, e.g. a cross s ...

2020

Nuclear data uncertainties for Swiss BWR spent nuclear fuel characteristics

Abdelhamid Dokhane, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev, Mathieu Hursin, Dimitri Rochman

The effect of nuclear data (fission yields, cross sections and emitted spectra) is quantified for spent nuclear fuel assemblies from a realistic boiling water reactor operated over 25 cycles. Nominal calculations are performed with the CASMO5, SIMULATE-3 a ...

2020

Loading optimization for Swiss used nuclear fuel assemblies into final disposal canisters

Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev, Dimitri Rochman

In this study, an optimization of the canister loading for used nuclear fuels is performed, solely based on their decay heat values. By taking into account the individual irradiation history for each fuel assembly, as well as with a number of assumptions o ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2020

Development and verification of a methodology for neutron noise response to fuel assembly vibrations

Gaëtan Girardin, Abdelhamid Dokhane, Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Dionysios Chionis

Nuclear reactors are stochastic systems, in which several parameters fluctuate even during steady-state conditions. In addition, structural components like fuel assemblies, vibrate due to strong hydraulic forces. This stochasticity is the cause of the neut ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2020

Assessment of representativity of the PETALE experiments for validation of Swiss LWRs ex-core dosimetry calculations

Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev, Vincent Pierre Lamirand, Axel Guy Marie Laureau, Dimitri Rochman

The international experimental program PETALE will be carried out at the CROCUS research reactor of EPFL. The program aims at measuring neutron penetration in slabs made of materials composing typical LWR reactor pressure vessel. The measurements will be u ...

E D P SCIENCES2020

Application of causality analysis on nuclear reactor systems

Abdelhamid Dokhane, Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Dionysios Chionis

Causality analysis is a substantial tool for identifying cause-and-effect links between different components of a system and has been extensively used in various areas of science such as neuroscience, climatology, and econometrics. This analysis is carried ...

American Institute of Physics2019

Analysis of reactivity worths of burnt PWR fuel samples measured in LWR-PROTEUS Phase II using a CASMO-5 reflected-assembly model

Hakim Ferroukhi, Daniel Jerôme Siefman, Mathieu Hursin

The reactivity loss of PWR fuel with burnup has been investigated experimentally by measuring the reactivity worths of highly-burnt fuel samples in a PWR test lattice in the framework of the LWR-PROTEUS Phase II program. Seven UO2 samples cut from fuel rod ...

2017

Study of Nuclear Decay Data Contribution to Uncertainties in Heat Load Estimations for Spent Fuel Pools

Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev, Mathieu Hursin

At the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), a methodology for nuclear data uncertainty propagation in CASMO-5M (C5M) assembly calculations is under development. This paper presents a preliminary application of this methodology to C5M decay heat calculations. Appl ...

Academic Press Inc Elsevier Science2014

Application of the PSI-NUSS Tool for the Estimation of Nuclear Data Related k(eff) Uncertainties for the OECD/NEA WPNCS UACSA Phase I Benchmark

Tiankai Zhu, Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev

At the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), a methodology titled PSI-NUSS is under development for the propagation of nuclear data uncertainties into Criticality Safety Evaluation (CSE) with the Monte Carlo code MCNPX. The primary purpose is to provide a complem ...

Academic Press Inc Elsevier Science2014

Comparison of Two Approaches for Nuclear Data Uncertainty Propagation in MCNPX for Selected Fast Spectrum Critical Benchmarks

Tiankai Zhu, Hakim Ferroukhi, Andreas Pautz, Alexander Vasiliev, Dimitri Rochman

Nuclear data uncertainty propagation based on stochastic sampling ( SS) is becoming more attractive while leveraging modern computer power. Two variants of the SS approach are compared in this paper. The Total Monte Carlo (TMC) method by the Nuclear Resear ...

Academic Press Inc Elsevier Science2014

Validation of Two Monte Carlo Codes for LWR Burnup Calculations

Damar Canggih Wicaksono, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev, Mathieu Hursin

This paper presents an assessment conducted at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) of two Monte Carlo-based codes, namely Monteburns and Serpent, for LWR depletion calculations. First, a validation of predicted spent fuel compositions is presented on the basi ...

2014

Application of Power Time-Projection on the Operator Splitting Coupling Scheme of the TRACE/S3K Coupled Code

Rakesh Chawla, Damar Canggih Wicaksono, Hakim Ferroukhi, Omar Zerkak

This paper reports refinement studies on the temporal coupling scheme and time-stepping management of TRACE/S3K, a dynamically coupled code version of the thermal-hydraulics system code TRACE and the 3D core simulator Simulate-3K. The studies were carried ...

American Nuclear Society2013

Refined Monte Carlo analysis of the H.B. Robinson-2 reactor pressure vessel dosimetry benchmark

Rakesh Chawla, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev

Refined analysis, based on use of the Monte Carlo code MCNPX-2.4.0, is presented for the "H.B. Robinson-2 pressure vessel dosimetry benchmark", which is a part of the Radiation Shielding and Dosimetry Experiments Database (SINBAD). First, the performance o ...

Elsevier2011

Estimation of the fast neutron fluence at control rod tips using a 3-D diffusion/2-D transport multi-step calculation scheme

Rakesh Chawla, Hakim Ferroukhi

This paper presents the development and application of a methodology to estimate, using conventional deterministic lattice/core analysis methods, the fast neutron fluence at the tips of control rods inserted during operation in PWR reactors. The developed ...

Elsevier Ltd2009

Cross-section modelling effects on pressurised water reactor main steam line break analyses

Rakesh Chawla, Hakim Ferroukhi, Omar Zerkak

Because of the strong asymmetric overcooling effects occurring during a PWR main steam line break (MSLB) event, an accurate analysis of this transient requires the use of 3-D kinetics methods. An assessment has been made of the relative performance of the ...

Elsevier Science Ltd.2009

On the performance of ENDF/B-VII.0 data for fast neutron fluence calculations

Rakesh Chawla, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev

The newest release of the Evaluated Nuclear Data File, ENDF/B-VII.0, has recently become available, along with the announcement of its significant advances over previous versions. The older ENDF/B releases, however, have been assessed for numerous applicat ...

Elsevier Science Ltd.2008

On the effects of oxygen cross-sections in the fast neutron fluence analysis for a reactor pressure vessel scraping test

Rakesh Chawla, Hakim Ferroukhi, Alexander Vasiliev

Studies in support of the assessment of aging structural materials in pressurized water reactors are being performed at the Paul Scherrer Institut. To that aim, a state-of-the-art methodology based on applying a CASMO-4/SIMULATE-3/MCNPX calculation scheme ...

Elsevier Science Ltd.2008