The ORR Whole-Core LEU Fuel Demonstration

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6620678

Bretscher, M M; Snelgrove, J L

The ORR Whole-Core LEU Fuel Demonstration, conducted as part of the US Reduced Enrichment Research and Test Reactor Program, has been successfully completed. Using commercially-fabricated U{sub 3}Si{sub 2}-Al 20%-enriched fuel elements (4.8 g U/cc) and fuel followers (3.5 g U/cc), the 30-MW Oak Ridge Research Reactor was safely converted from an all-HEU core, through a series of HEU/LEU mixed transition cores, to an all-LEU core. There were no fuel element failures and average discharge burnups were measured to be as high as 50% for the standard elements and 75% for the fuel followers. Experimental results for burnup-dependent critical configurations, cycle-averaged fuel element powers, and fuel-element-averaged {sup 235}U burnups validated predictions based on three-dimensional depletion calculations. Calculated values for plutonium production and isotopic mass ratios as functions of {sup 235}U burnup support the corresponding measured quantities. In general, calculations for reaction rate distributions, control rod worths, prompt neutron decay constants, and isothermal temperature coefficients were found to agree with corresponding measured values. Experimentally determined critical configurations for fresh HEU and LEU cores radially reflected with water and with beryllium are well-predicted by both Monte Carlo and diffusion calculations. 17 refs.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOD; DOE/MA
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6620678
• Report Number(s): CONF-9009108-1; ON: DE90017817; TRN: 90-031589
• Resource Relation: Conference: International meeting on reduced enrichment for research and test reactors, Newport, RI (USA), 23-27 Sep 1990
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
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ORR REACTOR
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
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BURNUP
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
NUCLEAR FUELS
PROGRESS REPORT
R CODES
REACTOR PHYSICS
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
URANIUM 235
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ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
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DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENRICHED URANIUM
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FUELS
HEAVY NUCLEI
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ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
METALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
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REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
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TANK TYPE REACTORS
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YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
220300* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Fuel Elements
220600 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
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