Bare, Complex, and Potassium-Filled HEU Oralloy Annuli Benchmark Experiments
Hundreds of critical experiments were constructed from Oak Ridge Alloy (oralloy) during the 1960s and 1970s at the Oak Ridge Critical Experiments Facility (ORCEF) in support of criticality safety operations at the Y-12 Plant. The purpose of these experiments included the evaluation of storage, casting, and handling limits and providing data for verification of calculation methods and cross sections for nuclear criticality safety applications. Recent contributions to the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (ICSBEP Handbook) include bare, complex, and potassium-filled annuli comprising multiple stacked units of highly enriched uranium (HEU), ~93.2 wt.% 235U, annuli, discs, and parallelepipeds. Prior contributions to the ICSBEP Handbook include bare (unreflected and unmoderated) cylinders; configurations of cylinders and annuli reflected with polyethylene, beryllium, or thin-graphite reflectors; GROTESQUE; and ORSphere. The newest contributions include a bare HEU 11-7 (11 inch outer diameter and 7 inch inner diameter) annulus capped at the top and bottom; bare HEU 13-7, 15-7, and 15-9 annuli; bare HEU complex annuli consisting of a 15-9 annulus containing either an off-center 7-inch-diameter cylinder, 5 × 5 inch parallelepiped, or split parallelepiped; and an HEU 13-7 annulus containing either empty stainless steel cans or potassium-metal-filled cans. The purpose of this latter pair of annulus configurations was to test the fast neutron cross sections of potassium as it was a candidate for coolant in some early space power reactor designs. A total of nine new configurations were evaluated as acceptable benchmark experiment measurements. Additional ORCEF oralloy experiments have also been identified for future benchmark evaluation.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1481868
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-15-34039-Rev000
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC 2015), Charlotte, NC, USA, 09/13/2015 - 09/17/2015
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Fast Neutron Spectrum Potassium Worth for Space Power Reactor Design Validation
Oralloy (93.2 235U) Bare Metal Annuli And Disks