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terrapower / armi

An open-source nuclear reactor analysis automation framework that helps design teams increase efficiency and quality
https://terrapower.github.io/armi/
Apache License 2.0
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Recommendation to rename the `puFrac` parameter to `puHMFrac` and add block parameter `puWeightFrac` #1762

Open sammiller11235 opened 2 months ago

sammiller11235 commented 2 months ago

It can be seen below that the block parameter definition that puFrac represents the fraction of "heavy metal" which is Plutonium. For certain fuel systems, the plutonium in the fuel is typically defined as the total weight fraction of Plutonium in the fuel mass (e.g., 100 grams of U-19Pu-10Zr has 19g of Pu, 10g of Zr, and 71g of U). This parameter has been misinterpreted to mean the Pu total weight fraction, and renaming would resolve this ambiguity.

https://github.com/terrapower/armi/blob/f6ee15003bc8d85db89dda87eb453b98414b0181/armi/reactor/blockParameters.py#L798-L803

onufer commented 2 months ago

if we make the second param, we should probably call it puFuelWeightFrac

john-science commented 1 month ago

Renaming parameters is easy enough, my only caution is that we are in the middle of a particularly busy release right now.

Having said that, my request is that if we change the name of this parameter, we don't use the name puFrac for another other parameters. We've had some real tricky problems in the past when people think they are using one parameter, but it's become something totally different. If you follow me.

I'll leave it up to you two, if you think this is high enough priority to push through now, or if we wait 2-3 weeks.