Limiting Surface Density Method Application to Large Arrays of Highly Heterogeneous Shipping Packages
- Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, Savannah River Site, Aiken, SC 29803 (United States)
This work represents the initial phase of an overall effort to reduce the analytical burdens and increase flexibility of the K-Area Complex which provides stewardship of special nuclear materials. A hand calculation method is being extended to apply to large arrays of highly heterogeneous shipping packages. This method has the potential to quickly determine the impact of perturbations on the array. The objective of the particular work reported herein is twofold. First, the analytical results upon which the Limiting Surface Density (LSD) method was originally based were reproduced using the modern computational code KENO-VI in SCALE 6.1. The second objective was to test the classic LSD method on storage of large arrays of highly heterogeneous shipping packages. Specifically, the objective is to determine if the method is adequate for existing arrays of 9975 shipping packages with fissile metal content. The classic LSD method was derived for simple packages of bare spheres of fissile material centered in an air filled cubic unit cell and placed in a cubic-pitch water-reflected array, the properties of which could then be translated to more practical array and package geometries. The classic method did not address highly heterogeneous packages which are close to neutronically decoupled from other identical packages. Therefore, the material based array constant (called c{sub 2}) as defined by the classic method is determined specifically for the packages in question. (authors)
- OSTI ID:
- 22991945
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 114; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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