Reactivity temperature coefficient for subcritical highly diluted plutonium systems

Journal Article · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:678136

Sanchez, R ^[1]

---

1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

Solutions of fissile materials are presently encountered in material processing streams and as waste materials generated from reprocessing of reactor fuel. For the most part, these solutions are being stored in tanks, for example, tank farms and underground tanks such as the ones located on the Hanford Site. Critical experiments have been performed on plutonium solutions at the Hanford Site and in France. These experiments explore the criticality characteristics of plutonium solutions, such as the effect of various reflectors around solutions of plutonium. Recently, several papers have been published on the long-term disposition of weapons-grade plutonium. Some of the configuration analyzed in the referenced papers are highly diluted plutonium systems, which exhibit positive temperature coefficients. Stratton and Kornerich performed similar calculations in the early 1980s and early 1990s and found that plutonium solutions having high H/Pu ratios indeed exhibit positive temperature coefficients. The purpose is to investigate if subcritical diluted plutonium systems continue to exhibit positive reactivity temperature coefficients.

• OSTI ID: 678136
• Report Number(s): CONF-990605--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 80; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
42 ENGINEERING
CRITICALITY
ISOTOPE DILUTION
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT