Neutronic performance of high-density LEU fuels in water-moderated and water-reflected research reactors [electronic resource].
- Published:
- Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy, 1996.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy. - Physical Description:
- 7 pages : digital, PDF file
- Additional Creators:
- Argonne National Laboratory, United States. Department of Energy, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Access Online
- Restrictions on Access:
- Free-to-read Unrestricted online access
- Summary:
- At the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) meeting in September 1994, Durand reported that the maximum uranium loading attainable with U₃Si₂ fuel is about 6.0 g U/cm³. The French Commissariat a l`Energie Atomique (CEA) plan to perform irradiation tests with 5 plates at this loading. Compagnie pour L`Etude et La Realisation de Combustibles Atomiques (CERCA) has also fabricated a few uranium nitride (UN) plates with a uranium density in the fuel meat of 7.0 g/cm³ and found that UN is compatible with the aluminum matrix at temperatures below 500 C. High density dispersion fuels proposed for development include U-Zr(4 wt%)-Nb(2 wt%), U-Mo(5 wt%), and U-Mo(9 wt%). The purpose of this note is to examine the relative neutronic behavior of these high density fuels in a typical light water-reflected and water-moderated MTR-type research reactor. The results show that a dispersion of the U-Zr-Nb alloy has the most favorable neutronic properties and offers the potential for uranium densities greater than 8.0 g/cm³. On the other hand, UN is the least reactive fuel because of the relatively large ¹⁴N(n,p) cross section. For a fixed value of k{sub eff}, the required ²³⁵U loading per fuel element is least for the U-Zr-Nb fuel and steadily increases for the U-Mo(5%), U-Mo(9%), and UN fuels. Because of volume fraction limitations, the UO₂ dispersions are only useful for uranium densities below 5.0 g/cm³. In this density range, however, UO₂ is more reactive than U₃Si₂.
- Report Numbers:
- E 1.99:anl/td/rp--91011
anl/td/rp--91011 - Subject(s):
- Other Subject(s):
- Dispersion Nuclear Fuels
- Performance
- Research Reactors
- Fuel Elements
- Slightly Enriched Uranium
- Uranium Alloys
- Zirconium Alloys
- Niobium Alloys
- Nitrogen 14 Target
- Neutron Reactions
- Multiplication Factors
- Uranium 235
- Uranium Dioxide
- Uranium Silicides
- Uranium Nitrides
- Molybdenum Alloys
- Water Moderated Reactors
- Reactivity
- Note:
- Published through SciTech Connect.
09/01/1996.
"anl/td/rp--91011"
"DE96015074"
Matos, J.E.; Bretscher, M.M. - Funding Information:
- W-31109-ENG-38
View MARC record | catkey: 14365518