The FREYA project at VENUS-F - the next step towards MYRRHA

Conference · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2015

OSTI ID:22531361

Krasa, A.; Baeten, P.; Kochetkov, A.; Uyttenhove, W.; Vittiglio, G.; Wagemans, J. ^[1]; Mercatali, L. ^[2]; Bianchini, G.; Carta, M.; Fabrizio, V.; Peluso, V. ^[3]

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1. SCK.CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol (Belgium)
2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)
3. ENEA, C.R. Casaccia, via Anguillarese, 301-00060 S. Maria di Galeria (Italy)

The VENUS-F reactor is a fast, zero-power research reactor. Since 2009 it has used 30% wt. metallic uranium as fuel and solid lead as reflector and coolant simulator. It can also be coupled to a particle accelerator with a neutron producing target and make up a subcritical Accelerator Driven System (ADS). Within the currently ongoing FREYA project, the main tasks being investigated are the validation of online reactivity monitoring of an ADS, the validation of nuclear data and neutronic codes, and the experimental characterization of fast critical and subcritical cores representative for MYRRHA. MYRRHA will be an ADS demonstrator with the option to be operated in critical mode too. So far the only critical core at VENUS-F was assembled using 97 fuel assemblies, each of them consisting of 9 U and 16 Pb rodlets. The core was thoroughly characterized: flux traverses, spectral indices, control rod worth, delayed neutron parameters were measured and compared with Monte Carlo and deterministic calculations. A sensitivity study was also performed focusing on the influence of material impurities, positioning uncertainties, structures and detectors around the core. It was a simple core without any perturbations in the active zone. In the next critical cores that are planned to be investigated in 2015 and 2016, additional elements will be introduced in order to become more representative for MYRRHA. As MYRRHA will use MOX fuel, oxygen will be added into the following core. This will be done by introducing Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} into the fuel assemblies. New fuel assemblies have been already made and are ready to be loaded. Each consists of 13 U, 8 Pb, and 4 Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} rodlets. The new critical core will consist of approximately 40 such fuel assemblies and will be loaded in January 2015. The first results of the characterization measurements will be presented. Additionally, it is planned to investigate coolant void effects. As MYRRHA will be a rather complex system using a number of in-pile sections and heterogeneous elements inside and around the active zone, the next cores will be step by step modified by loading new materials and perturbations with the aim to assemble a MYRRHA mock-up. (authors)

• Research Organization: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016-5997 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22531361
• Report Number(s): ANIMMA--2015-IO-313
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTROL ROD WORTHS
COOLANTS
DELAYED NEUTRONS
DISTURBANCES
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
MONITORING
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MYRRHA FACILITY
POSITIONING
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORES
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
SIMULATORS
URANIUM
VENUS REACTOR