Derivation of criticality safety benchmarks from ZPR fast critical assemblies

Journal Article · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:552477

Schaefer, R W ^[1]; McKnight, R D ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab.-West, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

Scores of critical assemblies were constructed, over a period of about three decades, at the Argonne National Laboratory ZPR-3, ZPR-6, ZPR-9, and zero power plutonium reactor (ZPPR) fast critical assembly facilities. Most of the assemblies were mock-ups of various liquid-metal fast breeder reactor designs. These tended to be complex, containing, for example, mock-ups of control rods and control rod positions. Some assemblies, however, were {open_quotes}physics benchmarks.{close_quotes} These relatively {open_quotes}clean{close_quotes} assemblies had uniform compositions and simple geometry and were designed to test fast reactor physics data and methods. Assemblies in this last category are well suited to form the basis for new criticality safety benchmarks. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of some of these benchmark candidates and to describe the strategy being used to create the benchmarks.

• OSTI ID: 552477
• Report Number(s): CONF-971125--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 77; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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REACTOR PHYSICS
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