GEDEON II: a benchmark experiment for the UO/sub 2/-Gd/sub 2/O/sub 3/ depletion in realistic PWR designs

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6463007

Chaucheprat, P; Martin-Deidier, L; Santamarina, A; Do, Q Q; Doutriaux, D; Zero, S

A large part of the French studies currently carried out on the effectiveness and availability of pressurized water reactors (PWRs) concerns an increase in cycle length, which should be increased from 12 to 18 months. To ensure a negative moderator reactivity coefficient, this corresponding advanced fuel management scheme requires the use of lumped burnable poisons (LBP). Gadolinium was chosen because one of its advantages is that it can be mixed with uranium oxide and thus be directly included in fuel rods. Thus, LBPs are reprocessed jointly with the assembly. Within the framework of CEA-Framatome experiments, the validation of the LBP neutronic calculation schemes has been studied for several years. The GEDEON II goal is now to qualify calculational methods in a realistic poisoned assembly and at the same time study the gadolinium depletion for gadolinium pins interfacing with other gadolinium pins and with other pin types. This experiment was begun in May 1985 in the Melusine core and should last approx. 2 yr and is intended to reach a burnup of 13,000 MWd/t. This experiment is based on the same principle as the first GEDEON I experiment: a PWR-type assembly including 10 UO/sub 2/-Gd/sub 2/O/sub 3/ rods, six water holes, and 149 fuel rods is introduced in the center of the Melusine core. The heterogeneities Gd/sub 2//H/sub 2/O and Gd/Gd are located on the diagonal and median axes, in a region spectrally independent of the driving zone.

• Research Organization: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
• OSTI ID: 6463007
• Report Number(s): CONF-860610-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 52
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210200* -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
BENCHMARKS
BURNABLE POISONS
BURNUP
CHALCOGENIDES
DESIGN
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
FUEL MANAGEMENT
GADOLINIUM COMPOUNDS
GADOLINIUM OXIDES
IRRADIATION REACTORS
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION REACTORS
MATERIALS
MELUSINE-1 REACTOR
NEUTRON ABSORBERS
NUCLEAR POISONS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICS
POOL TYPE REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RARE EARTH COMPOUNDS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTOR PHYSICS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
THERMAL REACTORS
TRAINING REACTORS
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS