Eu₂O₃ and B₄C Worth Calculations in Fast Reactor Spectra

Conference · Sun Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 1975

OSTI ID:4051110

Daughtry, J. W. ^[1]

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1. Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

Work is now in progress to design and fabricate europia (Eu₂O₃) control rods for irradiation testing in one of the early operating cycles of the Fast Test Reactor (FTR). These tests will provide data for evaluating europia as a possible control rod absorber material in fast reactors. Prediction of the reactivity worth of the europia rods is a necessary part of the design process. To improve the accuracy of these predictions, an experiment was performed in the FTR Engineering Mockup Critical (EMC) to determine the relative reactivity worth of Eu₂O₃ and boron carbide (B₄C) in control rod size quantities. Upon completion of the experiment, calculations were performed to obtain reactivity worths for comparison with the measured worths. From this comparison, calculation-vs.-experiment (C/E) bias factors were obtained for use in correcting the computed reactivity worth of europia in the FTR. A brief description of the experiment is presented together with the experimental results, a description of the analytical methods, the calculated results, and a comparison of the calculated and experimental results. Also included are discussions of the effects of resonance self-shielding and mesh spacing on computed absorber rod worths.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)
• DOE Contract Number: AT(45-1)-2170
• NSA Number: NSA-33-025195
• OSTI ID: 4051110
• Report Number(s): HEDL-SA--789; CONF-750607--48
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

*BORON CARBIDES-- REACTIVITY WORTHS
*EUROPIUM OXIDES-- REACTIVITY WORTHS
*FFTF REACTOR-- CONTROL ROD WORTHS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTROL ELEMENTS
DATA
Europia
Fast Test Reactor (FTR)
NEUTRON ABSORBERS
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)