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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Non-Linear Subcritical Multiplication at the Fort St. Vrain HTGR

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6351262
 [1];  [2]
  1. Public Service Company of Colorado, Denver (United States)
  2. Colorado State University, Fort Collins (United States). Department of Mechanical Engineering
Fort St. Vrain (FSV) Nuclear Generating Station is this country's first commercial electrical plant to use the High Temperature-Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR) concept. Currently, the plant is being prepared for commercial operation by the performance of a series of startup tests. Three types of neutron detector systems are installed to indicate reactor power and infer the reactivity status of the core. All three are based on the measurement of neutron flux leaking out of the core assembly. In addition to indication, the outputs of these instruments perform safety and control functions. The system for which nonlinear inverse multiplication was observed were the two-startup channel boron-10 proportional counters, ranging from shutdown to a core power level of approximately 10-3/%. The subcritical nonlinearity is peculiar to the particular fuel/source/detector configuration and could not be improved.
Research Organization:
Colorado State University, Fort Collins (United States). Department of Mechanical Engineering; Public Service Company of Colorado, Denver (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
OSTI ID:
6351262
Report Number(s):
CONF-770822-9; ON: DE85901710
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English