Benchmark Experiments in Water-Moderated Fully-Reflected 6.90% Enriched UO₂ Fuel Rod Lattices With a Fuel-to-Water Volume Ratio of 0.52.

Conference ·

OSTI ID:1113097

Harms, Gary A. ^[1]; Miller, Allison Delo ^[1]; Ford, John T. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) was designed to provide benchmark criticality and reactor physics data for water-moderated pin-fueled nuclear reactor cores. The enrichment of the fuel was chosen to explore the enrichment range above the current 5% ceiling for US commercial PWRs. The experiment was part of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) Project 01-124 titled “Reactor Physics and Criticality Benchmark Evaluations for Advanced Nuclear Fuel”. The NERI project was a collaboration between AREVA Federal Services, LLC; the University of Florida; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The experiments are currently supported by the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration Nuclear Criticality Safety Program.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1113097
• Report Number(s): SAND--2013-5325C; 457145
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
Experiments
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) Project
Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX)