Preliminary safety evaluation for a medical therapy reactor

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:6387036

Jones, J L; Neuman, W A ^[1]

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1. EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA)

A conceptual design of a passively safe reactor facility for boron neutron capture therapy has been previously described. The medical therapy reactor (MTR) has a maximum power level of 10 MW(thermal) and utilizes 45 wt% uranium in UZrH, 20 wt% {sup 235}U enriched hydride fuel matrix with 1 wt% erbium, which is a burnable poison and provides prompt negative reactivity feedback. The facility has five beam ports for patient treatment and advanced neutron beam research and is capable of 2,000 to 10,000 treatments per year, assuming single 8h/day, 5 day/week operation. The epithermal treatment flux from the beam ports is large, enabling single-session treatment of brain cancers of <10-min duration, with minimal fast neutron and gamma contaminants. The reactor core is designed with sufficient excess reactivity to yield a core lifetime equal to a facility lifetime of 30 yr. A preliminary safety evaluation was performed using the RELAP5 thermal-hydraulic code. The analysis addressed accidents in several major categories, including a pump coastdown, a loss of secondary heat sink, and a $0.5 step reactivity insertion.

• OSTI ID: 6387036
• Report Number(s): CONF-891103-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 90-035278
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA), Vol. 60; Conference: Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and nuclear power and technology exhibit, San Francisco, CA (USA), 26-30 Nov 1989; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR SAFETY
NEUTRON CAPTURE THERAPY
PLANNING
BRAIN
BURNABLE POISONS
DESIGN
EPITHERMAL NEUTRONS
ERBIUM
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT SINKS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
MODERATELY ENRICHED URANIUM
NEOPLASMS
NEUTRON FLUX
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CHANNELS
SERVICE LIFE
ACTINIDES
BARYONS
BODY
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
DISEASES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENRICHED URANIUM
FERMIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
HADRONS
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
MATERIALS
MECHANICS
MEDICINE
METALS
NERVOUS SYSTEM
NEUTRON ABSORBERS
NEUTRON THERAPY
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
NUCLEAR POISONS
NUCLEONS
ORGANS
RADIATION FLUX
RADIOLOGY
RADIOTHERAPY
RARE EARTHS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
SAFETY
SINKS
THERAPY
URANIUM
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