A PRELIMINARY KINETIC STUDY OF A SODIUM-BERYLLIUM-URANIUM CIRCULATING FUEL REACTOR

Technical Report · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1956

OSTI ID:4227980

Thompson, J J

The initial response of a 1: 100:2000 U--Na--Be reactor, operating at a power density of 1200 cals/cc/ sec, to a sudden change in the fuel concentration in the circulating carrier, was calculated on the assumption of constant inlet temperature and no delayed neutrona. The results confirm that the peak temperatures and power can be accurately calculated by ignoring the moderator temperature rise, and that thc approach to the new steady state values is given by the solution of the linearized equations. The slow moderator heating implies that the departures from the steady state are still large when the carrier and fuel have completed one transit of the external circuit. The assumption that the mean temperature is the arithmetic mean of inlet and outlet temperatures very nearly gives the true mean temperature peak but overestimates the maximum power and outlet temperature excursions by 15 1/2 and 7%, respectively. (auth)

• Research Organization: Australia. Atomic Energy Commission Research Establishment, Lucas Heights, New South Wales
• NSA Number: NSA-13-018640
• OSTI ID: 4227980
• Report Number(s): AAEC/E-14
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BERYLLIUM
DENSITY
ENRICHMENT
EQUATIONS
EXCURSIONS
HEATING
LIQUID METAL COOLANT
LIQUID METAL FUEL
MODERATORS
NUMERICALS
POWER
REACTORS
SODIUM
TEMPERATURE
TRANSIENTS
URANIUM
VARIATIONS