American National Standard ANSI/ANS-8. 12-1987: Criticality control of plutonium-uranium mixtures

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7265398

Libby, R A; Clayton, E D

American National Standard ANSI/ANS-8.12-1987 was approved for use on September 11, 1987. This paper provides information on the limits presented in the standard. As stated in its foreword, the standard, provides guidance for the prevention of criticality accidents in the handling, storing, processing, and transporting of plutonium-uranium fuel mixtures outside reactors and is applicable to all operations involving mixtures of plutonium and natural uranium. It constitutes an extension of the American National Standard for Nuclear Criticality Safety in Operations with Fissionable Materials Outside Reactors, ANSI/ANS-8.1-1983. The standard includes subcritical limits for both homogeneous mixtures and heterogeneous lattices of plutonium and uranium. The uranium is assumed to be natural or depleted. Limits are provided for a variety of mixtures, including aqueous solutions, dry (H/(Pu+U)=0) mixed oxides at theoretical density, and damp (H/(Pu+U) {le} 0.45) mixed oxides at both theoretical and one-half theoretical density. The limits for homogeneous mixtures shown cover four different plutonium contents (3,8,15, and 30 wt% PuO{sub 2} in PuO{sub 2} + UO{sub 2}) and three different isotopic compositions ({sup 240}Pu > {sup 241}Pu; {sup 240}Pu {ge} 15 wt% and {sup 241}Pu {le} 6 wt%; and {sup 240}Pu {ge} 25 wt% and {sup 241}Pu {le} 15 wt%).

• OSTI ID: 7265398
• Report Number(s): CONF-911107--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ACTINIDES
ALLOY NUCLEAR FUELS
CRITICALITY
DEPLETED URANIUM
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
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HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURES
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MATERIALS
MATERIALS HANDLING
METALS
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
MIXTURES
NATURAL URANIUM
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
OPERATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM
QUANTITY RATIO
REACTOR LATTICES
REACTOR MATERIALS
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RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SAFETY STANDARDS
SOLID FUELS
STANDARDS
STORAGE
SUBCRITICALITY
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
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TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
WATER
ZERO POWER REACTORS
ZIRCONIUM