Review of the state of criticality of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 core and reactor vessel
- GPU Nuclear Corp., Middletown, PA (USA)
The events during the early hours of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident on March 28, 1979 caused the fuel in the reactor core to crumble or disintegrate, and then subside into a rubble structure more compact that its normal configuration. The present height of the core is about seven feet, five feet less than its normal configuration of 12 feet. With the same boron content and some or all of the control rod and burnable poison rod material as the normal core configuration, the collapsed structure is calculated to be more reactive. However, the reactor is assuredly subcritical at present because of the extraordinarily high boron concentration maintained in the coolant water. Four additional and different physical models are discussed briefly in the report to illustrate the margin of subcriticality, to provide a better estimate of the neutron multiplication factor, and to provide some understanding of the criticality effects of the important parameters. Two different finite, cylindrical models of a collapsed core are also presented in this report. The conclusion of this review is that the reactor is now very far subcritical with a boron concentration of 4350 ppM or more, and no conceivable rearrangement of fuel can create a critical state. Careful administrative control to maintain the boron concentration of the reactor coolant close to 5000 ppM, and controls to rigorously exclude addition of unborated water to the primary system, provide additional assurance that subcriticality will be maintained. The immediate corollary is that the defueling of the reactor vessel can proceed as planned, with complete confidence that such operations will remain subcritical. 20 refs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/DP
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 6991667
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NCT-01; ON: DE90013082
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: Manuscript date: July 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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