BURNABLE POISONS IN SMALL POWER REACTORS

Technical Report · Sat Oct 31 04:00:00 EST 1959

OSTI ID:4282992

Smith, A M; Jeffrey, J

In the design of small reactors suitable for propulsion purposes the need for a large amount of excess reactivity to compensate for the effects of depletion and fission product poisoning leads to a difficult engineering problem in the accommodation of an adequate amount of control rods to shut the reactor down. Moreover, unless a complex control rod program is used very distorted flux distributions can arise, leading to very high temperatures in the core. The use of a bumable poison can help in both of these difficuities. An analysis of the physics aspects of the inclusion of burnable poisons in a reactor is presented for a simple model of the core, and figures are given for the case of a light water cooled and moderated reactor. For example, it is shown how such a reactor, designed to run for 1,000 equivalent full power hours with full xenon override, can, by the use of a burnable poison, have its fuel loading increased so that its life is extended to about four times this figure. It is also shown how under certain circumstances the addition of a burnable poison to a reactor can shorten its life. (auth)

• Research Organization: Rolls-Royce Ltd., Derby, Eng.
• NSA Number: NSA-13-007209
• OSTI ID: 4282992
• Report Number(s): A/CONF.15/P/86
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BURNUP
CONFIGURATION
CONTROL
CONTROL ELEMENTS
DISTRIBUTION
FISSION PRODUCTS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
NEUTRON FLUX
PLANNING
POISONING
POWER PLANTS
PROPULSION
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR FUELING
REACTORS
RODS
SHUTDOWN
STARTUP
WATER COOLANT
WATER MODERATOR
XENON