Review of Studies on Criticality Accidents Undertaken at CEA/Valduc

Conference · Sun Jun 02 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:5864446

Since 1977, the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA) has led a program of study on criticality accidents to meet the needs and requirements of a realistic safety policy that, while taking all necessary measures to prevent accidents, must also seek to evaluate and cope with the consequences of such an event. In working to achieve this objective, the IPSN bases its work mainly on the resources available at the Valduc criticality laboratory. In view of the diversity of possible accident configurations at different installations and the fact that the shutdown mechanisms of power excursion are directly related to the medium involved, studies have focused on four major categories of media: liquids, solids, powders, and heterogeneous water-moderated systems. For each one, the most plausible hypothetical accident situation was defined, while trying to maintain a conservative view with respect to other situations. A part of the work consists of acquiring, either by experiments conducted in facilities or by neutronic calculations, a basic set of data or relationships such as temperature coefficient or physical characteristics of fuel to input in a computer code. The final goal is to provide a general calculation code able to predict criticality excursion for safety considerations.

• Research Organization: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Is-sur-Tille (France)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• OSTI ID: 5864446
• Report Number(s): CONF-910603--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

054000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
42 ENGINEERING
420203 -- Engineering-- Handling Equipment & Procedures
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ACCIDENTS
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISO
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
C CODES
CEA
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMPUTER CODES
CRITICALITY
Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA)
Criticality Accidents
DECOMPOSITION
DOSES
ELEMENTS
EMERGENCY PLANS
ENRICHED URANIUM
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXCURSIONS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FISSILE MATERIALS
FISSION
FISSIONABLE MATERIALS
FRENCH ORGANIZATIONS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
FUELS
HEAVY NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
METALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
MODERATORS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR DATA COLLECTIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM
POWDERS
RADIATION ACCIDENTS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIOLYSIS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
Realistic Safety Policy
S CODES
SAFETY
SILENE REACTOR
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
SOLID FUELS
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
TRANSPORT
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
URANIUM 235
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM ISOTOPES
URANIUM OXIDES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
ZERO POWER REACTORS