EXPERIMENTAL EFFECTIVE FISSION CROSS SECTIONS AND NEUTRON SPECTRA IN A URANIUM FUEL ROD. PART II. CANDU-TYPE URANIUM OXIDE CLUSTERS

Technical Report · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1961

OSTI ID:4809175

Bigham, C B; Chidley, B G; Turner, R B

Integral activation measurements were made in a CANDU-type 19-element UO/ sub 2/ fuel cluster in which the heavy water or air in the coolant channels could be raised to approximately -280 deg C. The changes in effective neutron temperature, T, associated with coolant and fuel temperature changes were obtained from the vales of sigma /sub f/ Pu/sup 239/ sigma /sup f sigma /sub c/ Lu/sup 176/ sigma /sub cMn/sup 55/ relative to the values in a known spec trum. The epithermal index, r, was obtained from I/sup 115/resonance activation. Gold, tungsten, and molybdenum were used to measure higher energy slowing down flux distributions. The values of T for CANDU conditions were l45 and 174 deg C respectively for the two methods. The increase in T caused by the UO/sub 2/ was significant and about equal to that caused by the heavy water coolant. Large distortions were observed in the slowing down spectrum, in good agreement with calculated flux depression factors. The presence of the heavy water coolant did not have a very large effect on these distortions. (auth)

• Research Organization: Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Chalk River, Ont.
• NSA Number: NSA-16-004677
• OSTI ID: 4809175
• Report Number(s): CRRP-985-B; AECL-1350
• Country of Publication: Canada
• Language: English

Related Subjects

AIR
CANDU
COOLANT LOOPS
CROSS SECTIONS
DISTRIBUTION
EPITHERMAL NEUTRONS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GOLD
HEAVY WATER COOLANT
INDIUM 115
LUTETIUM 175
MEASURED VALUES
MOLYBDENUM
NEUTRON FLUX
PHYSICS
PLUTONIUM 239
REACTORS
SLOWDOWN
TUNGSTEN
URANIUM 235
URANIUM DIOXIDE