Enhancement of the RPI Reactor Facility by HEU/LEU Conversion

Conference · Sun Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 1987 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:6928565

Harris, D. R.; Rodriguez-Vera, F.; Shin, S. T.

The Reactor Critical Facility (RCF) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) operated for almost a quarter century with highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel in stainless steel clad. Although the RCF was used originally by the American Locomotive Company for critical experiments in support of the Army Package Power Reactor Program, RPI has operated the facility primarily for teaching purposes because the HEU fuel was not of current interest for industry critical experiments. The RCF has now been converted to 4.81 wt% enriched high-density UO₂ fuel clad in approx. 1-cm-diam stainless steel tubes. This low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel is relevant for light water reactors (LWRs) in view of the current trend toward high-exposure fuel with enrichment near 5 wt%. Critical experiment information is deficient in this area. The use of stainless-steel cladding in the RCF rather than the Zircaloy cladding normally used in the LWR industry is a reasonably well understood perturbation. Thus, critical experiments are being carried out at the RCF in addition to the normal training functions. The RCF is the only facility in the US now available for conducting critical experiments in support of the LWR power industry, although several such facilities are in operation overseas.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• OSTI ID: 6928565
• Report Number(s): CONF-8711195-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Journal Volume: 55
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
220600* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
42 ENGINEERING
ACTINIDES
CRITICALITY
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Fuel
ISOTOPE ENRICHED MATERIALS
Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) Fuel
MATERIALS
METALS
MODIFICATIONS
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTORS
RENSSELAER CRITICAL FACILITY
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Reactor Critical Facility (RCF)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
SPECIFICATIONS
Stainless Steel Clad
TRAINING
URANIUM
ZERO POWER REACTORS