TREAT LEU Conversion Analyses Performed 2016-2018

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1576925· OSTI ID:1576925

Papadias, D. D. ^[1]; Kontogeorgakos, D. C. ^[1]; Connaway, H. M. ^[1]; Wright, A. E. ^[1]

---

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

TREAT is an experimental nuclear reactor designed to produce high neutron flux transients for the testing of reactor fuels and other materials. After more than 20 years of non-operational standby, TREAT has been restarted under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Resumption of Transient Testing Program. The conversion of TREAT from its current highly enriched uranium fuel to a low enriched uranium fuel is being pursued in keeping with the mission of the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration’s Material Management and Minimization Reactor Conversion Program. This report documents additional analyses performed over the timeframe of 2016 to early 2018 to evaluate the LEU Conceptual Design for the TREAT reactor, following the initial design studies documented in the 2016 Conceptual Design Report. The analyses documented in this report include neutronic and thermal hydraulic sensitivity studies to evaluate the effect of key design parameters on predicted core behaviors, as well as a simple investigation into the effect of fuel thermal expansion.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (NA-20)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1576925
• Report Number(s): ANL/RTR/TM--18/3; 157465
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS