Hazards Summary Report for the GCRE Critical-Assembly Experiments

Technical Report · Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 EDT 1958

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4313269· OSTI ID:4313269

Hogan, William S. ^[1]; Dingee, David A. ^[1]; Jankowski, Francis J. ^[1]; Chastain, Joel W. ^[1]

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1. Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (United States)

Critical experiments are described, and the hazards attendant to these experiments are evaluated for a gascooled water-moderated reactor design. The proposed reactor has a core 28 in. high and a nominal 2 ft in diameter. The fuel elements will be concentric metal tubes containing UO₂ dispersed in metal. These elements will be located in axial voids through the core. The water moderator and reflector are unpressurized. The fuel elements for the critical assembly will be uranium foil wrapped on metal tubes located in sealed aluminum cans. These cans are positioned by locating grid plates at the bottom and top of the core. The reactor design being studied will be controlled by horizontal-acting control blades. A mock-up will be made in the critical assembly of blades of the desired material supported by brackets mounted to the core support structure. Shutdown control of the critical assembly is achieved by cadmium control blades and by dumping the water into a storage tank. The maximum normal rats of reactivity addition is limited to an estimated 0.04 per cent per sec for all remotely controlled operations. The system is interlocked to insure that safe operational procedures are followed. Hazard calculations are made to determine the dosage from direct radiation, fall-out, and inhalation from a radioactive cloud resulting from an accident. The exclusion area is shown to be adequate for even the maximum hypothetical accident.

• Research Organization: Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (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-92
• NSA Number: NSA-12-015829
• OSTI ID: 4313269
• Report Number(s): BMI-1240(Rev.)
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-58
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCIDENTS
ATMOSPHERE
CADMIUM
CONTAMINATION
CONTROL ELEMENTS
CRITICAL ASSEMBLIES
ENVIRONMENT
FALLOUT
GAS COOLANT
MEASURED VALUES
NUMERICALS
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
PLATES
POPULATIONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOACTIVITY
REACTIVITY
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTORS
REMOTE CONTROL
SERVOMECHANISMS
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STORAGE
WATER
WATER MODERATOR
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Criticality
Control Elements
Fallout
Environment
Critical Assemblies
Atmosphere
Accidents