Neutronics, Steady-State, and Transient Analyses for the Poland MARIA Reactor for Irradiation Testing of LEU Lead Test Fuel Assemblies from CERCA: ANL Independent Verification Results

Technical Report · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1015935· OSTI ID:1015935

Garner, P. L. ^[1]; Hanan, N. A. ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

The MARIA reactor at the Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE) in Swierk (30 km SE of Warsaw) in the Republic of Poland is considering conversion from high-enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel assemblies (FA). The FA design in MARIA is rather unique; a suitable LEU FA has never been designed or tested. IAE has contracted with CERCA (the fuel supply portion of AREVA in France) to supply 2 lead test assemblies (LTA). The LTAs will be irradiated in MARIA to burnup level of at least 40% for both LTAs and to 60% for one LTA. IAE may decide to purchase additional LEU FAs for a full core conversion after the test irradiation. The Reactor Safety Committee within IAE and the National Atomic Energy Agency in Poland (PAA) must approve the LTA irradiation process. The approval will be based, in part, on IAE submitting revisions to portions of the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) which are affected by the insertion of the LTAs. (A similar process will be required for the full core conversion to LEU fuel.) The analysis required was established during working meetings between Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and IAE staff during August 2006, subsequent email correspondence, and subsequent staff visits. The analysis needs to consider the current high-enriched uranium (HEU) core and 4 core configurations containing 1 and 2 LEU LTAs in various core positions. Calculations have been performed at ANL in support of the LTA irradiation. These calculations are summarized in this report and include criticality, burn-up, neutronics parameters, steady-state thermal hydraulics, and postulated transients. These calculations have been performed at the request of the IAE staff, who are performing similar calculations to be used in their SAR amendment submittal to the PAA. The ANL analysis has been performed independently from that being performed by IAE and should only be used as one step in the verification process.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1015935
• Report Number(s): ANL-08/27
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
BURNUP
Beryllium
CRITICALITY
Calculations
DESIGN
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
IAE
IRRADIATION
LTA
MARIA REACTOR
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PAA
POLAND
REACTOR SAFETY
SAFETY ANALYSIS
TESTING
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
TRANSIENTS
URANIUM
VERIFICATION