Criticality in Dump Tanks for HRE-3 Blanket

Technical Report · Fri Jan 31 04:00:00 EST 1958

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4311725· OSTI ID:4311725

Prince, B. E. ^[1]; Rosenthal, M. W. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The possibility of criticality occurring in the HRE-3 slurry dump tanks was examined by estimating the critical concentration for an infinite system and comparing it to the concentrations which might conceivably occur with mixing of the core fuel with the blanket. In addition to considering an infinite reactor, the following assumptions were made in obtaining the critical concentration: 1) The fuel is isotopically pure U²³³; 2) No absorbers are present other than U²³³ and thorium; 3) Nuclear behavior is represented by a Fermi age model with modification to allow for resonance absorptions in fuel (Oracle program of Jaye and Lietzke for bare, one-region reactors). The η of U²³³ is taken to be independent of energy.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-12-005631
• OSTI ID: 4311725
• Report Number(s): CF-58-1-124
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
BLANKETS
CRITICALITY
Concentration
Critical Concentration
Criticality
FERMI AGE
FUELS
HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS
HRE-3
Homogeneous Reactors
MIXING
Mixing
NUMERICALS
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Numericals
REACTORS
RESONANCE NEUTRONS
Reactors
SHELLS
SLURRIES
THERMAL UTILIZATION
THORIUM
Thorium
URANIUM 233
Uranium