Optimization methods have been developed and refined throughout manyscientific fields of study. This work utilizes one such developed technique ofoptimization called simulated annealing to produce optimal operation parameters for a15x15 fuel assembly to be used in an operating nuclear power reactor. The two maincases of optimization are: one that finds the optimal 235U enrichment layout of the fuelpins in the assembly and another that finds both the optimal 235U enrichments wheregadolinium burnable absorber pins are also inserted. Both of these optimizations can beperformed by coupling Adaptive Simulated Annealing to TransLAT which successfullysearches the optimization space for a fuel assembly layout that produces the minimizedpin power peaking factor. Within given time constraints this package produces optimallayouts within a given set of assumptions and constraints. Each layout is forced tomaintain the fuel assembly average 235U enrichment as a constraint. Reductions inpeaking factors that are produced through this method are on the order of 2% to 3%when compared to the baseline results. As with any simulated annealing approach,families of optimal layouts are produced that can be used at the engineer?s discretion.
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