Simulated Verification of Fuel Element Inventory in a Small Reactor Core Using the Nuclear Materials Identification System (NMIS)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
The International Panel on Climate Change projects that by 2050 the world energy demand may double. Although the primary focus for new nuclear power plants in industrialized nations is on large plants in the 1000-1600 MWe range, there is an increasing demand for small and medium reactors (SMRs). About half of the innovative SMR concepts are for small (< 300 MWe) reactors with a 5–30-year life without on-site refueling. This type of reactor is also known as a battery-type reactor. These reactors are particularly attractive to countries with small power grids and for non-electrical purposes such as heating, hydrogen production, and seawater desalination. Traditionally, this type of reactor has been used in a nautical propulsion role. This type of reactor is designed as a permanently sealed unit to prevent the diversion of the uranium in the core by the user. However, after initial fabrication it will be necessary to verify that the newly fabricated reactor core contains the quantity of uranium that initially entered the fuel fabrication plant. In most instances, traditional inspection techniques can be used to perform this verification, but in certain situations the core design will be considered sensitive. Non-intrusive verification techniques must be utilized in these situations. The Nuclear Materials Identification System (NMIS) with imaging uses active interrogation and a fast time correlation processor to characterize fissile material. The MCNP-PoliMi computer code was used to simulate NMIS measurements of a small, sealed reactor core. Because most battery-type reactor designs are still in the early design phase, a more traditional design based on a Russian icebreaker core was used in the simulations. These simulations show how the radiography capabilities of the NMIS could be used to detect the diversion of fissile material by detecting void areas in the assembled core where fuel elements have been removed.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 970886
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: INMM 50. Annual Meeting, TUCSON, AZ (United States), 12-19 Sep 2009
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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