Benchmark calculations of unreflected spheres of {sup 233}U solutions

Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:426521

Sapir, J; Mosteller, R D ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM (United States)

Currently there is a relatively large volume of {sup 233}U-bearing material at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) installations awaiting reprocessing and final disposition. To ensure criticality safety, it is important that facilities processing these materials validate their neutronic codes against appropriate evaluated benchmark models of critical experiments. In this paper, the authors present an evaluation of five spherical {sup 233}U solution experiments performed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1950s. They also present corresponding benchmark-model specifications and calculated predictions of k{sub eff} using the MCNP Monte Carlo code with both ENDF/B-V and /B-VI cross sections. The experiments employed a 691.9 mm diam sphere constructed by welding two 3.2 mm thick hemispherical shells of type 1100 aluminum. The solutions contained 97.7 wt% {sup 233}U in the form of uranyl nitrate [UO{sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}]. The solutions differed primarily in the amount of boron poison present in the nitrate solution and the corresponding critical concentration of uranium. The hydrogen/{sup 233}U ratios in the solutions ranged from 1324 to 1533.

• OSTI ID: 426521
• Report Number(s): CONF-961103--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 75; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
42 ENGINEERING
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
BENCHMARKS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
CRITICALITY
SAFETY ANALYSIS
URANIUM 233
URANYL NITRATES