Fast Breeder Blanket Facility (Interim Report, January 1981)

Technical Report · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6656653· OSTI ID:6656653

Clikeman, F. M. ^[1]

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1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

The Fast Breeder Blanket Facility (FBBF) located at Purdue University is a subcritical facility designed to investigate the neutron and gamma-ray physics of the blankets of fast breeder reactors (FBR). The facility was designed to mock-up, using UO₂ fuel rods, the blanket regions of FBR's. The facility, using a cylindrical geometry and an isotopic neutron source, drives the experimental blanket region with a neutron flux that has an energy and spatial dependence similar to a 1000 MW_e FBR. Measurements of the neutron reaction rates, both capture and fission, neutron energy spectra, and gamma-ray absorption rates as a function of position in the blankets can be measured and then compared with calculated values. This report contains a summary of the philosophy and design considerations in the facility. Since the facility was to be built and operated at a university, special safety considerations had to be factored into the design. The report also contains a detailed description of the facility together with a summary of criticality calculations that were made to insure the safety of the facility under both normal and accidental flooding conditions. A summary of the measurements of k_eff and the shielding, as required by part of the license conditions are also presented. Finally, samples of some of the preliminary experimental measurements are presented.

• Research Organization: Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• OSTI ID: 6656653
• Report Number(s): EPRI-NP--1657
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BREEDER REACTORS
BREEDING BLANKETS
CRITICALITY
DESIGN
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
GAMMA RADIATION
Gamma
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MOCKUP
NEUTRON FLUX
Neutron
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
RADIATION FLUX
RADIATIONS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SAFETY
SIMULATION
STRUCTURAL MODELS
SUBCRITICAL ASSEMBLIES