SPERT PROJECT QUARTERLY TECHNICAL REPORT, APRIL-JUNE 1963
The low-enrichment, rod-type UO/sub 2/ core previously tested in Spert I was reloaded in the facility in preparation for a test program which will culminate in a planned destructive test. Static measurements of the control rod reactivity worths and the isothermal temperature coefficient of reactivity verified data obtained in the previous test series. A series of experiments is being planned to obtain additional information on the origin of the large pressure pulse observed in the destructive test previously performed with a highly enriched plate-type core. Hardware was constructed for irradiation of several fuel plates in the reflector region of the Spert I oxide core during thc forthcoming test series. Modifications to the Spert II facility were completed and an operational core loading was achieved in preparation for a series of excursion tests investigating the effects of initial system pressure, temperature, and coolant flow rate on the magnetic behavior of a close-packed D/ sub 2/O-moderated core configuration. The previously reported series of power excursion tests in Spert IV with and 18-ft hydrostatic head was extended to include tests with periods as short as 7.0 msec. Extrapolation of the data indicated that fuel plate surface temperatures would be expected to reach the melting temperature for excursions with periods shorter than about 6 msec. Tests were performed to investigate the effect on the kinetic behavior of the Spert N core of various initial coolant flow velocities from zero to 12 ft/sec. Addition of flow within this range had no appreciable effect on the magnitude of the initial power burst for tests with period shorter than about 50 msec. The relative magnitude and the frequency of the power oscillations observed following the initial burst were found to decrease as the (low rate was decreased. A detailed inspection of the Spert IV core following completion of this test series revealed that a hole had melted in one of the fuel plates in the central fuel assembly of the core. It was postulated that mechanical deformation of the plate during the initial power burst of a 10-msec-period test with 5000 gpm forced coolant flow caused blocking of the coolant channel resulting in steam blanketing and burnout of the plate. Further tests are in progress to obtain additional information on the conditions which resulted in the melting of the plate. The Power Burst Facility (PBF) was designed to generate power bursts with periods as short as 1 msec, and to produce energy releases large enough to destroy fuel assemblies placed in capsules or flow loops mounted in an internal flux trap in the center of the reactor core, without damage to the core itself. Additional work is in progress on optimization of the core design and on plans for a fuel testing program to evaluate the performance of the fuel design proposed for the initial PBF core. In an analysis of errors generated in the numerical evaluation of unilateral Fourier transforms derived from a continuous record of analog data, error criteria were developed, which are somewhat less restrictive with respect to requirements on the data than are those usually obtained by assuming that only discrete data points are known. Analysis of data from high-power pile-oscillator tests previously performed in Spert I continued with the evaluation of the transfer function at a mean power level of 800 kw. An improved method was developed for smoothing and normalizing transfer function data in order to permit extraction of the feedback transfer function in the frequency domain above 0.1 cps. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Phillips Petroleum Co. Atomic Energy Div., Idaho Falls, Idaho
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT(10-1)-205
- NSA Number:
- NSA-18-001299
- OSTI ID:
- 4152588
- Report Number(s):
- IDO-16920
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-64
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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