Characterization of CANDU coolant void reactivity using nuclear data sensitivities and assessment of ZED-2 experimental configurations for code validation

The coolant void reactivity (CVR) of a mid-burnup CANDU bundle was characterized using nuclear data sensitivity coefficients generated with TSUNAMI-2D. The sensitivity profiles revealed the key reactor physics phenomena driving CVR, consistent with known behaviour. The nuclear data sensitivities were also used to assess the similarity and potential validation value of a set of theoretical ZED-2 flooding experiments. Experiments incorporating zirconium tubing and/or mixed oxide fuel offer additional validation value beyond that of the ZED-2 natural uranium experiment characterized in the IRPhE database. The TSUNAMI nuclear data sensitivity tools proved to be valuable for both exploring the physics of CANDU CVR and assessing the value of potential experiments that could be used to validate CVR code predictions.