Preliminary core design calculations for the ACPR Upgrade

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1976

OSTI ID:21152780

Pickard, P S ^[1]

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1. Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The goal of the Annular Core Pulse Reactor (ACPR) Upgrade design studies is to define a core configuration that provides a significant increase in pulse fluence and fission energy deposition. The reactor modification should provide as flat an energy deposition profile for experiments as feasible. The fuels examined in this study were UO{sub 2}-BeO (5-15 w/o UO{sub 2}), UC-ZrC-C (200-500 mg U/cc) and U-ZrH{sub 1.5}. The basic core concept examined was a two region core, - a high heat capacity inner core region surrounded by an outer U-ZrH{sub 1.5} region. Survey core calculations utilizing 1D transport calculations and cross sections libraries derived from the ORNL-AMPX code examined relative fuel loadings, fuel temperatures, reactivity requirements and pulse performance improvement. Reference designs for all candidate fuels were defined utilizing 2D transport and Monte Carlo calculations. The performance implications of alternative core designs were also examined for the UO{sub 2}-BeO and UC-ZrC-C fuel candidates. (author)

• Research Organization: General Atomic Co., San Diego, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21152780
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--09N0184; TOC--7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ACPR REACTOR
BERYLLIUM OXIDES
DESIGN
FISSION
LIQUID FUELS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PERFORMANCE
PULSES
REACTIVITY
REACTOR FUELING
SPECIFIC HEAT
TRIGA TYPE REACTORS
URANIUM CARBIDES
URANIUM DIOXIDE
ZIRCONIUM CARBIDES