The GUINEVERE experiment: First PNS measurements in a lead moderated sub-critical fast core
- Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, CNRS-IN2P3/UJF/INPG (France)
- StudieCentrum voor Kernenergie-CEN (Belgium)
- Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire de Caen, ENSICAEN/Universite de Caen/CNRS-IN2P3 (France)
- CEA Commissariat A l'Energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives, DEN, DER/SPEX, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)
- Institut de Physique Hubert Curien-DRS/UdS/CNRS-IN2P3, 53 Avenue des Martyrs, 38026 Grenoble cedex (France)
The GUINEVERE (Generation of Uninterrupted Intense Neutrons at the lead Venus Reactor) experimental program is dedicated to the study of Accelerator Driven System reactivity monitoring. It was partly carried out within the EUROTRANS integrated project (EURATOM FP6). GUINEVERE consists in coupling the fast core of the VENUS-F reactor (SCK-CEN, Mol (Belgium)), composed of enriched uranium and solid lead, with a T(d,n) neutron source provided by the GENEPI-3C deuteron accelerator. This neutron source can be operated in several modes: pulsed mode, continuous mode and also continuous mode with short beam interruptions (the so called 'beam trips'). In the past, the key questions of the reactivity control and monitoring in a subcritical system were studied in the MUSE experiments (1998-2004). These experiments highlighted the difficulty to determine precisely the reactivity with a single technique. This led to investigate a new strategy which is based on the combination of the relative reactivity monitoring via the core power to beam current relationship with absolute reactivity cross-checks during programmed beam interruptions. Consequently, to determine the reactivity, several dynamical techniques of reactivity determination have to be compared. In addition, their accuracy for absolute reactivity determination must be evaluated using a reference reactivity determination technique (from a critical state: rod drop and MSM measurements). The first sub-critical configuration which was studied was around k{sub eff} = 0.96 (SCI). Pulsed Neutron Source experiments (PNS) were carried out. The neutron population decrease was measured using fission chambers in different locations inside the core and the reflector. Neutron population time decrease was analyzed using fitting techniques and the Area Method Results obtained for the SCI reactivity will be shown, discussed and compared to the reference value given by the MSM method. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22106031
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 13 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ACCELERATOR BREEDERS
ACCELERATOR DRIVEN TRANSMUTATION
ACCURACY
BEAM CURRENTS
CONTROL
DEUTERONS
ENRICHED URANIUM
EURATOM
EXPERIMENT PLANNING
FISSION CHAMBERS
LEAD
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
NEUTRON REFLECTORS
NEUTRON SOURCES
REACTIVITY
SUBCRITICAL ASSEMBLIES