6 research outputs found
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Light water reactor mixed-oxide fuel irradiation experiment
The United States Department of Energy Office of Fissile Materials Disposition is sponsoring and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is leading an irradiation experiment to test mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel made from weapons-grade (WG) plutonium. In this multiyear program, sealed capsules containing MOX fuel pellets fabricated at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are being irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The planned experiments will investigate the utilization of dry-processed plutonium, the effects of WG plutonium isotopics on MOX performance, and any material interactions of gallium with Zircaloy cladding
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Short collision time approximation for neutron scattering using discrete frequency distributions
A completely general form for computing any scattering cross section based on the incoherent approximation without extending f(..omega..) to negative frequencies and without integrating over the complex plane is presented. A simple derivation of the short collision time approximation for discrete frequency distributions is also given. The approximation works well for large incident neutron energies when the duration of a collision is short compared with the natural periods of atomic motion. Single-differential scattering cross sections for light water as computed with the free proton and Nelkin scattering models at 561/sup 0/K, and the short collision time approximation with T/sub eff/ = 1468/sup 0/K, are shown for an incident neutron energy of 1.0 eV. 1 figure. (RWR
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Opportunities for mixed oxide fuel testing in the advanced test reactor to support plutonium disposition
Numerous technical issues must be resolved before LWR operating licenses can be amended to allow the use of MOX fuel. These issues include the following: (1) MOX fuel fabrication process verification; (2) Whether and how to use burnable poisons to depress MOX fuel initial reactivity, which is higher than that of urania; (3) The effects of WGPu isotopic composition; (4) The feasibility of loading MOX fuel with plutonia content up to 7% by weight; (5) The effects of americium and gallium in WGPu; (6) Fission gas release from MOX fuel pellets made from WGPu; (7) Fuel/cladding gap closure; (8) The effects of power cycling and off-normal events on fuel integrity; (9) Development of radial distributions of burnup and fission products; (10) Power spiking near the interfaces of MOX and urania fuel assemblies; and (11) Fuel performance code validation. The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory possesses many advantages for performing tests to resolve most of the issues identified above. We have performed calculations to show that the use of hafnium shrouds can produce spectrum adjustments that will bring the flux spectrum in ATR test loops into a good approximation to the spectrum anticipated in a commercial LWR containing MOX fuel while allowing operation of the test fuel assemblies near their optimum values of linear heat generation rate. The ATR would be a nearly ideal test bed for developing data needed to support applications to license LWRs for operation with MOX fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium. The requirements for planning and implementing a test program in the ATR have been identified. The facilities at Argonne National Laboratory-West can meet all potential needs for pre- and post-irradiation examination that might arise in a MOX fuel qualification program
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Mixed oxide fuels testing in the advanced test reactor to support plutonium disposition
An intense worldwide effort is now under way to find means of reducing the stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium. One of the most attractive solutions would be to use WGPu as fuel in existing light water reactors (LWRs) in the form of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel - i.e., plutonia (PUO{sub 2}) mixed with urania (UO{sub 2}). Before U.S. reactors could be used for this purpose, their operating licenses would have to be amended. Numerous technical issues must be resolved before LWR operating licenses can be amended to allow the use of MOX fuel. These issues include the following: (1) MOX fuel fabrication process verification, (2) Whether and how to use burnable poisons to depress MOX fuel initial reactivity, which is higher than that of urania, (3) The effects of WGPu isotopic composition, (4) The feasibility of loading MOX fuel with plutonia content up to 7% by weight, (5) The effects of americium and gallium in WGPu, (6) Fission gas release from MOX fuel pellets made from WGPu, (7) Fuel/cladding gap closure, (8) The effects of power cycling and off-normal events on fuel integrity, (9) Development of radial distributions of burnup and fission products, (10) Power spiking near the interfaces of MOX and urania fuel assemblies, and (11) Fuel performance code validation. We have performed calculations to show that the use of hafnium shrouds can produce spectrum adjustments that will bring the flux spectrum in ATR test loops into a good approximation to the spectrum anticipated in a commercial LWR containing MOX fuel while allowing operation of the test fuel assemblies near their optimum values of linear heat generation rate. The ATR would be a nearly ideal test bed for developing data needed to support applications to license LWRs for operation with MOX fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium. The requirements for planning and implementing a test program in the ATR have been identified
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Sensitivity and a priori uncertainty analysis of the CFRMF central flux spectrum
The Coupled Fast Reactivity Measurements Facility (CFRMF), located at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, is a zoned-core critical assembly with a fast-neutron-spectrum zone in the center of an enriched /sup 235/U, water-moderated thermal driver. An accurate knowledge of the central neutron spectrum is important to data-testing analyses which utilize integral reaction-rate data measured for samples placed in the CFRMF field. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study made with the AMPX-II and FORSS code systems to deterine the central-spectrum flux covariance matrix due to uncertainties and correlations in the nuclear data for the materials which comprise the facility