HEAVY WATER MODERATED POWER REACTORS. Quarterly Progress Report for February, March, and April 1959
The economic survey of heavy-water-moderated, natural-uranium-fueled power reactors was completed this quarter. The results showed that the cost of power from a very large boiling-D/2 sub/O-cooled power reactor of the pressure tube type (i.e., 9.5 mills/kwh for a 400Mw(s) capacity) is the lowest cost for electricity from any of the reactors considered in the study, but that it is still as much as 50% higher than the cost of power from fossil-fueled plants of comparable size in the United states. Continued progress is reported on the design and construction of the Heavy Water Components Test Reactor (HWCTR), a high-temperature facility for simultaneously irradiating sizable numbers of fuel elements under power reactor conditions. In particular, the design of the HWCTR reactor pressure vessel, cooling system, and nuclear control system are reviewed. Data are also given on (1) a new technique, explosive compaction, for fabricating clad rods of uranium oxide, (2) the fabrication of oxide and metallic uranium fuels by various other methods, (3) heat transfer burnout of water-cooled fuel elements, and (4) the irradiation testing of prototype power reactor fuels. This is ths last quarterly report on the du Pont study. Starting with July, progress reports will be issued montaly. (For preceeding period see DP-375.) (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) & Co. Atomic Energy Div., Wilmington, Del.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT(07-2)-1
- NSA Number:
- NSA-14-001133
- OSTI ID:
- 4192154
- Report Number(s):
- DP-385
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-60
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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