Reactor Physics and Criticality Benchmark Evaluations for Advanced Nuclear Fuel, Progress Report for Work through August 31, 2002, First Annual/4th Quarterly Report

Technical Report · Mon Sep 23 00:00:00 EDT 2002

OSTI ID:801431

Anderson, William J; Ake, Timothy N; Punatar, Mahendra; Pitts, Michelle L; Harms, Gary A; Rearden, Bradley T; Parks, Cecil V; Tulenko, James S; Dugan, Edward; Smith, Robert M

OAK B204 The objective of this Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) project is to design, perform, and analyze critical benchmark experiments for validating reactor physics methods and models for fuel enrichments greater than 5-wt% 235U. These experiments will also provide additional information for application to the criticality-safety bases for commercial fuel facilities handling greater than 5-wt% 235U fuel. These experiments are designed as reactor physics benchmarks, to include measurements of critical boron concentration, burnable absorber worth, relative pin powers, and relative average powers.The first year focused primarily on designing the experiments using available fuel, preparing the necessary plans, procedures and authorization basis for performing the experiments, and preparing for the transportation, receipt and storage of the Pathfinder fuel currently stored at Pennsylvania State University.Framatome ANP, Inc. leads the project with the collaboration of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the University of Florida (UF). The project is organized into 5 tasks:Task 1: Framatome ANP, Inc., ORNL, and SNL will design the specific experiments, establish the safety authorization, and obtain approvals to perform these experiments at the SNL facility. ORNL will apply their sensitivity/uncertainty methodology to verify the need for particular experiments and the parameters that these experiments need to explore.Task 2: Framatome ANP, Inc., ORNL, and UF will analyze the proposed experiments using a variety of reactor-physics methods employed in the nuclear industry. These analyses will support the operation of the experiments by predicting the expected experimental values for the criticality and physics parameters.Task 3: This task encompasses the experiments to be performed. The Pathfinder fuel will be transported from Penn State to SNL for use in the experiments. The experiments will be performed and the hardware will be decontaminated and decommissioned.Task 4: Framatome ANP, Inc., ORNL, and UF will analyze the experiments and compare calculated values of physics parameters for the experiments with the measured values. Potential sources of differences will be sought between calculated physics parameter values and the experimental values. The results of all analyses will be documented.Task 5: UF and Framatome ANP, Inc. will evaluate typical fuel-processing operations to establish the limits and restrictions required for fabricating higher-enriched fuel.Work in Year 1 included completion of Task 1 and the licensing of a transportation cask under Task 5. This work entailed a number of milestones accomplished in Year 1. These include:?h Issuance of the Preliminary Design Report in February 2002?h Completion of the Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis in May 2002?h Completion of the Final Design Report in June 2002?h Submittal of the NRC license application for the transportation package in May 2002.This first year was a year of successes as all deliverables were met on time and the project completed the year within the budget.In Year 2, the project moves into a manufacturing and application phase. Year 2 includes successful completion of the licensing process for the transportation package and transportation of the fuel from Pennsylvania State University to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Also, Year 2 includes the fabrication of the fuel into smaller aluminum cladding. Once the fuel is ready and the necessary approvals are in place, the experiments will end; begin following the design presented in the Final Design Report. Although Year 2 will be primarily ''hand's on'' fabrication and handling work, the analytical work will continue on the experiments and the generic fuel processing facility.

• Research Organization: Framatome ANP, Inc. Lynchburg, VA; ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN; SNL, Albuquerque, NM; U. of Florida, Gainesville, FL
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology (NE); NE-20
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-01SF22330
• OSTI ID: 801431
• Report Number(s): DOESF22330-1; TRN: US200706%%587
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
ALUMINIUM
BENCHMARKS
BORON
CASKS
CRITICALITY
FABRICATION
LICENSE APPLICATIONS
MANUFACTURING
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR INDUSTRY
PHYSICS
PROCESSING
PROGRESS REPORT
REACTOR PHYSICS
SAFETY REPORTS
SENSITIVITY
STORAGE
Reactor
Physics
Experiments
>5-wt% (B204)