The Spent Fuel Safety Experiment
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
The Department of Energy is conducting an ongoing investigation of the consequences of taking fuel burnup into account in the design of spent fuel transportation packages. A series of experiments, collectively called the Spent Fuel Safety Experiment (SFSX), has been devised to provide integral benchmarks for testing computer-generated predictions of spent fuel behavior. A set of experiments is planned in which sections of unirradiated fuel rods are interchanged with similar sections of spent PWR fuel rods in a critical assembly. By determining the critical size of the arrays, one can obtain benchmark data for comparison with criticality safety calculations. The SFSX provides a direct measurement of the reactivity effects of spent PWR fuel using a well-characterized, spent fuel sample. The SFSX also provides an experimental measurement of the end-effect, i.e., the reactivity effect of the variation of the burnup profile at the ends of PWR fuel rods. The design of the SFSX is optimized to yield accurate benchmark measurements of the effects of interest, well above experimental uncertainties.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 97348
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--95-1782C; CONF-950787--70; ON: DE95016762
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
42 ENGINEERING
BEHAVIOR
BENCHMARKS
BURNUP
CONFIGURATION
FUEL RODS
Fuel Burnup
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PACKAGING
SPENT FUELS
Spent Fuel Safety Experiment (SFSX)
Spent Fuel Transportation Packages Design