Numerical Methods for Modeling Radioactive Decay Chains of Nuclear Fuel

Different numerical methods including Euler’s Method, Heun’s Method, Midpoint Method, Ralston’s Method, Runge-Kutta 2,  and Runge-Kutta 4 are compared for solving complex radioactive decay chains for nuclear fuel rods using Matlab. Isotropic concentrations over time are calculated concurrently in multiple Matlab application for post-irradiated fuel from common reactor configurations calculated using MCNP5. The solutions are then compared with Geant4 Monte Carlo Simulation of radioactive decay of the fuel rods. The methods are compared for processing time and isotopic concentrations yielding a faster methodology for solving composition and radioactivity over the decay life of nuclear fuel waste.