PRELIMINARY HAZARDS SUMMARY, MOCK-UP REACTOR, NASA PLUM BROOK REACTOR FACILITY

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4033799

Finnegan, P M

A preliminary safeguards and hazards summary for the Plum Brook Mock-Up Reactor (MUR) is presented. The layouts of the core and MUR and experimental facilities of the low-power, highly enriched, water cooled and moderated, beryllium-water reflected reactor are shown. A typical new fuel assembly will contain about 168 g of U/sup 235/. A typicai new control rod fuel assembly will contain approximately 130 g of U/sup 235/. The static characteristics of the reactor are given. The reactor core will be submerged in a demineralized light- water pool. The control rod assembly and the drive system are shown schematically. Two individually operated regulating rods are provided. Eight shim-safety rods, 3 in the reflection region and 5 in the fuel region, are also provided. The control and safety system consists of 5 separate channels, 2 power level safety channels, one period safety channel, and two startup channels. The power cutback system was designed to detect a potentially hazardous condition and to select, from 3 modes of corrective action, one that would cause the control or safety system to start correcting at a rate determined by the degree of hazard involved. The abnormal conditions and the corrective action are given. General safety procedures are discussed. The MUR was designed to selfregulate excursions due to reactivity insertions up to 2.5% without damaging the reactor or producing a significant personnel radiation hazard. The credible accidents associated with MUR operations were analyzed and it was concluded that the maximum credible accident would be caused by the insertion of one dollar's worth of reactivity. (M.C.G.)

• Research Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lewis Research Center, Cleveland
• NSA Number: NSA-15-015897
• OSTI ID: 4033799
• Report Number(s): NP-9947
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-61
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

HEALTH AND SAFETY
ACCIDENTS
BERYLLIUM
CIRCUITS
CONFIGURATION
CONTROL ELEMENTS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
DETECTION
DIAGRAMS
ENRICHMENT
EXCURSIONS
FUEL ELEMENTS
MOCKUP
OPERATION
PERSONNEL
PLANNING
POWER
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTORS
REFLECTORS
RODS
SAFETY
SERVOMECHANISMS
STANDARDS
STARTUP
URANIUM 235
WATER
WATER COOLANT
WATER MODERATOR