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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

VMR CRITICAL-ASSEMBLY STUDIES

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4094994
Critical-assembly research was conducted for Advanced Technology Laboratories of the American-Standard Corporation as a pad of a program to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of the Variable Moderator Reactor (VMR) concept. The critical-assembly core consisted of 37 hexagonal stainless- steel fuel-element cans, each containing 61 fuel pins. The fuel pins were 0.485 in. OD aluminum tubing (0.028-in. wall) filled with UO/sub 2/ pellets, 0.415 in. in diameter and 1.80% enriched. Fuel pins and elements were arranged in triangular lattices. Core configurations that were combinations of 0.633- and 0.703-in. pin pitches and Light water served as the moderator; whereas water, furfural, furfuryl alcohol, and air were used within the fuel elements as coolant- simulating materials. In the parious core configurations measurements were made of nuclear parameters related to thermal-flux disadvantage factors, resonance- escape probability, fast effects in U/sup 238/ and U/sup 23 / 5>s, and effective neutron temperatures. Critical configurations, reactivity worth of liquid levels, core temperature coefficient of reactivity, and flux and power distributions were also obtained. (auth)
Research Organization:
Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, Ohio
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-92
NSA Number:
NSA-15-010498
OSTI ID:
4094994
Report Number(s):
BMI-1482
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English