Performance of the Texas cold neutron source at reactor power

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:6844379

Uenlue, K; Rios-Martinez, C; Bauer, T L; Wehring, B W ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

The Texas Cold Neutron Source (TCNS) was recently installed into the piercing beam port of the 1-MW TRIGA Mark II research reactor at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory of the University of Texas at Austin. The TCNS system consists of a cooled moderator, a neon heat pipe, a cryogenic refrigerator, and a neutron guide. Design features of the TCNS, safety aspects, and thermal performance measured with the TCNS outside the beam port were previously published. The TCNS satisfactorily handled heat loads up to 4 W, applied using an electrical heater attached to the moderator chamber. This paper reports measurements of the nuclear heating at various reactor powers and the neutron fluxes at the open-beam channel and at the [sup 58]Ni-coated guide channel of the TCNS. After the TCNS was installed into the beam port, tests were conducted under various conditions. Similar results were obtained for cool-down and warmup operations at zero reactor power with an empty chamber and a mesitylene-filled chamber as were obtained with the TCNS outside of the beam port. After 470 min of operation of the cryorefrigerator, the temperatures of the mesitylene moderator and refrigerator cold head stabilized at 28 and 26 K, respectively. The neon pressure in the heat pipe after cooling down was [approximately]40 kPa.

• OSTI ID: 6844379
• Report Number(s): CONF-931160--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 69
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
220600* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
BARYONS
COLD NEUTRONS
DESIGN
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FERMIONS
HADRONS
HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS
HYDRIDE MODERATED REACTORS
IRRADIATION REACTORS
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION REACTORS
MEASURING METHODS
NEUTRON FLUX
NEUTRON SOURCES
NEUTRONS
NUCLEONS
PARTICLE SOURCES
PULSED REACTORS
RADIATION FLUX
RADIATION SOURCES
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SOLID HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
THERMAL ANALYSIS
THERMAL REACTORS
TRIGA TYPE REACTORS
TRIGA-TEXAS REACTOR
WATER COOLED REAC