Abstract
In 1962, the Western New York Research Center, Inc., located at the State University of New York at Buffalo, decided they had a need for a reactor with pulsing and high power steady state capabilities. Both General Atomic and the American Machine and Foundry Corporation (AMF) were contacted to ascertain if it were feasible to construct a dual purpose reactor of this type. The General Atomic proposal indicated the feasibility but would not warrant a steady state power of 2 MW with ultimate capability of 5 MW. AMF did provide a conceptual design for such a dual reactor, call the PULSTAR, and sufficient design information to confirm that the operating specifications could be met. The PULSTAR fuel consisted of 6 enrichment UO{sub 2} sintered pellets in zircaloy tubes (pins) mounted in a x 5 array inside a fuel assembly. The fuel design was patterned after fuel that was under development for light water power reactors and that had been extensively tested under high power pulse conditions in the SPERT Test Reactor. The fuel assemblies are rectangular in a horizontal cross section, 315 inches by 2.74 inches, allowing for flat control blades to be inserted in the core grid arrangement. The
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Carter, Robert E;
Leonard, Bobby E
[1]
- Institute for Resource Management, Inc., Bethesda, MD (United States)
Citation Formats
Carter, Robert E, and Leonard, Bobby E.
PULSTAR fuel, low enrichment, long lifetime, economical, proven.
IAEA: N. p.,
1993.
Web.
Carter, Robert E, & Leonard, Bobby E.
PULSTAR fuel, low enrichment, long lifetime, economical, proven.
IAEA.
Carter, Robert E, and Leonard, Bobby E.
1993.
"PULSTAR fuel, low enrichment, long lifetime, economical, proven."
IAEA.
@misc{etde_20596913,
title = {PULSTAR fuel, low enrichment, long lifetime, economical, proven}
author = {Carter, Robert E, and Leonard, Bobby E}
abstractNote = {In 1962, the Western New York Research Center, Inc., located at the State University of New York at Buffalo, decided they had a need for a reactor with pulsing and high power steady state capabilities. Both General Atomic and the American Machine and Foundry Corporation (AMF) were contacted to ascertain if it were feasible to construct a dual purpose reactor of this type. The General Atomic proposal indicated the feasibility but would not warrant a steady state power of 2 MW with ultimate capability of 5 MW. AMF did provide a conceptual design for such a dual reactor, call the PULSTAR, and sufficient design information to confirm that the operating specifications could be met. The PULSTAR fuel consisted of 6 enrichment UO{sub 2} sintered pellets in zircaloy tubes (pins) mounted in a x 5 array inside a fuel assembly. The fuel design was patterned after fuel that was under development for light water power reactors and that had been extensively tested under high power pulse conditions in the SPERT Test Reactor. The fuel assemblies are rectangular in a horizontal cross section, 315 inches by 2.74 inches, allowing for flat control blades to be inserted in the core grid arrangement. The active height of the core is approximately 24 inches. In the initial Buffalo AMF contract, a collaborative development agreement was signed in conjunction with agreement to construct the facility. After completion of the Buffalo PULSTAR Reactor, the PULSTAR fuel underwent an extensive test program which resulted in some minor changes in the basic design. In 1965, North Carolina State University contracted with AMF for the construction of a dual MW steady state (with ultimate capability of 5 MW and pulsing PULSTAR Research Reactor. Their fuel is identical to the Buffalo fuel except for having an enrichment of 4% U-235. This paper presented basic information about the characteristics and performance of the PULSTAR Research Reactor fuel. The following summarizes this information. The fuel is of sufficiently low enrichment to preclude use as nuclear weapons material. Although Pu is produced, its continuous burnup precludes the use of the fuel to produce Pu for nuclear weapons material. The fuel is readily available on the world-wide market, and therefore purchasers do not have to depend on one sole-source fuel supplier. The fuel is inherently safe against any conceivable accident condition. Unlike other research reactor fuel, the fuel can be reprocessed with present technology and present reprocessing facilities. Due to the similarity to power reactor fuel, the fuel facilitates research related to fuel and core development for power reactors. The under moderated neutron fluence spectrum enables studies of fast neutron effects and provides high thermal neutron fluence peaking at the core boundary and in 'flux traps'. The long fuel burnup cycle provides a fuel lifetime at least a factor of 4 greater than competitive low enrichment 20%) fuels. The cost per megawatt day of operation is a factor of 2 less than competitive low enrichment 20% fuel.}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1993}
month = {Aug}
}
title = {PULSTAR fuel, low enrichment, long lifetime, economical, proven}
author = {Carter, Robert E, and Leonard, Bobby E}
abstractNote = {In 1962, the Western New York Research Center, Inc., located at the State University of New York at Buffalo, decided they had a need for a reactor with pulsing and high power steady state capabilities. Both General Atomic and the American Machine and Foundry Corporation (AMF) were contacted to ascertain if it were feasible to construct a dual purpose reactor of this type. The General Atomic proposal indicated the feasibility but would not warrant a steady state power of 2 MW with ultimate capability of 5 MW. AMF did provide a conceptual design for such a dual reactor, call the PULSTAR, and sufficient design information to confirm that the operating specifications could be met. The PULSTAR fuel consisted of 6 enrichment UO{sub 2} sintered pellets in zircaloy tubes (pins) mounted in a x 5 array inside a fuel assembly. The fuel design was patterned after fuel that was under development for light water power reactors and that had been extensively tested under high power pulse conditions in the SPERT Test Reactor. The fuel assemblies are rectangular in a horizontal cross section, 315 inches by 2.74 inches, allowing for flat control blades to be inserted in the core grid arrangement. The active height of the core is approximately 24 inches. In the initial Buffalo AMF contract, a collaborative development agreement was signed in conjunction with agreement to construct the facility. After completion of the Buffalo PULSTAR Reactor, the PULSTAR fuel underwent an extensive test program which resulted in some minor changes in the basic design. In 1965, North Carolina State University contracted with AMF for the construction of a dual MW steady state (with ultimate capability of 5 MW and pulsing PULSTAR Research Reactor. Their fuel is identical to the Buffalo fuel except for having an enrichment of 4% U-235. This paper presented basic information about the characteristics and performance of the PULSTAR Research Reactor fuel. The following summarizes this information. The fuel is of sufficiently low enrichment to preclude use as nuclear weapons material. Although Pu is produced, its continuous burnup precludes the use of the fuel to produce Pu for nuclear weapons material. The fuel is readily available on the world-wide market, and therefore purchasers do not have to depend on one sole-source fuel supplier. The fuel is inherently safe against any conceivable accident condition. Unlike other research reactor fuel, the fuel can be reprocessed with present technology and present reprocessing facilities. Due to the similarity to power reactor fuel, the fuel facilitates research related to fuel and core development for power reactors. The under moderated neutron fluence spectrum enables studies of fast neutron effects and provides high thermal neutron fluence peaking at the core boundary and in 'flux traps'. The long fuel burnup cycle provides a fuel lifetime at least a factor of 4 greater than competitive low enrichment 20%) fuels. The cost per megawatt day of operation is a factor of 2 less than competitive low enrichment 20% fuel.}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1993}
month = {Aug}
}