SM-1A CORE II ZERO POWER EXPERIMENT

Technical Report · Mon Jan 21 04:00:00 EST 1963

OSTI ID:4759258

Walthousen, L D; Raby, T M; Moote, F G

Zero power experiments performed on SM-1A Core II included an element-by- element reactivity check of fuel elements and control rod absorber sections and an estimate of burnable poison (B/sup 10/) loading in the stationary fuel elements. SM-1A Core II control rod fuel elements have 4.8 g less U/sup 235/ per element than in SM-1A Core I and Core II has approximately 6 g more burnable poison (B/sup 10/) than Core I. A core assembly test performed by the inverse multiplication approach to criticality led to the development of a safe and rapid on-site loading procedure. Critical rod bank positions as a function of fuel loading were determined along with a control rod bank calibration. Critical rod configurations for the fully loaded core demonstrated that two control rods could be fully withdrawn and a third partially withdrawn before the reactor would produce a self-sustaining reaction. Burnup calculations performed for the SM-1A Core II indicate that the best estimate of core life is 13.8 Mw-years. (auth)

• Research Organization: Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. Atomic Energy Div., Washington, D.C.; Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. Nuclear Power Dept., Washington, D.C.; and Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co., Schenectady, N.Y.
• NSA Number: NSA-17-013773
• OSTI ID: 4759258
• Report Number(s): ACNP-62847
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BORON 10
BURNUP
CRITICALITY
ELEMENTS
EQUATIONS
FUEL ELEMENTS
LIFETIME
MEASURED VALUES
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
POISONING
POWER PLANTS
PRESSURE
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR FUELING
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
REACTORS
SM-1A
STANDARDS
WATER COOLANT
WATER MODERATOR