Uncertainty quantification of BWR criticality safety simulations

BWR lattice structure and operating conditions are more complicated than their PWR counterparts. Accurate burnup credit and criticality safety analysis requires rigorous modeling of BWR lattice during depletion calculations to provide precise burnup credit estimates. Consequently, this works aims to perform advanced criticality safety and depletion calculations by avoiding major assumptions that were used in previous studies and include uncertainty calculations. In this work, heterogeneous U-235 enrichment distribution throughout the lattice and accurate gadolinium rod modeling was considered, instead of uniform (average) enrichment. A control blade was inserted during depletion to quantify its effect on the burnup credit. Different depletion cases were compared to the simplified 2D depletion case and conclusions were drawn. Criticality safety analysis was conducted by estimating the effect of these depletion conditions on the criticality of GBC-68 spent fuel cask to ensure that the cask remain subcritical by a sufficient margin.