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Halden Boiling Water Reactor. Plant Performance and Heavy-Water Management

Abstract

The Halden boiling heavy-water reactor, designed and built by the Norwegian Institutt for Atomenergi, has since June 1958 been operated as an international project. On its second charge the reactor was operated at power levels up to 25 MW and most of the time at a pressure of 28.5 kg/cm{sup 2}. During the period from July 1964 to December 1966 the plant availability was close to 64% including shutdowns because of test fuel failures and loading/unloading of fuel. Disregarding such stops, the availability was close to 90%. The average burnup of the core is about 6200 MWd/t UO{sub 2} : the most highly exposed elements have reached 10000 MWd/t UO{sub 2}. The transition temperature of the reactor tank has been followed closely. The results of the surveillance programme and the implication on the reactor operation are discussed. The reactor is located in a cave in a rock. Some experiences with such a containment are given. To locate failed test-fuel elements a fuel failure location system has been installed. A fission gas collection system has saved valuable reactor time during clean-up of the reactor system following test fuel failures. Apart from one incident with two of the control stations, the plant  More>>
Authors:
Aas, S.; Jamne, E.; Wullum, T.; Fjellestad, K. [1] 
  1. Institutt for Atomenergi, OECD Halden Reactor Project, Halden (Norway)
Publication Date:
Apr 15, 1968
Product Type:
Conference
Report Number:
IAEA-SM-99/2
Resource Relation:
Conference: Symposium on Heavy-Water Power Reactors, Vienna (Austria), 11-15 Sep 1967; Other Information: 2 refs., 10 figs.; Related Information: In: Heavy-Water Power Reactors. Proceedings of the Symposium on Heavy-Water Power Reactors| 1001 p.
Subject:
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; ALUMINIUM; BURNUP; BWR TYPE REACTORS; FAILURES; FERRITIC STEELS; FISSION PRODUCTS; FUEL ELEMENTS; HBWR REACTOR; HEAVY WATER; NUCLEAR FUELS; PERFORMANCE; REACTOR CORES; REACTOR OPERATION; TRANSITION TEMPERATURE; TRITIUM; URANIUM DIOXIDE
OSTI ID:
22117049
Research Organizations:
International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)
Country of Origin:
IAEA
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Other: ISSN 0074-1884; TRN: XA13M1001073670
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
page(s) 3-23
Announcement Date:
Aug 01, 2013

Citation Formats

Aas, S., Jamne, E., Wullum, T., and Fjellestad, K. Halden Boiling Water Reactor. Plant Performance and Heavy-Water Management. IAEA: N. p., 1968. Web.
Aas, S., Jamne, E., Wullum, T., & Fjellestad, K. Halden Boiling Water Reactor. Plant Performance and Heavy-Water Management. IAEA.
Aas, S., Jamne, E., Wullum, T., and Fjellestad, K. 1968. "Halden Boiling Water Reactor. Plant Performance and Heavy-Water Management." IAEA.
@misc{etde_22117049,
title = {Halden Boiling Water Reactor. Plant Performance and Heavy-Water Management}
author = {Aas, S., Jamne, E., Wullum, T., and Fjellestad, K.}
abstractNote = {The Halden boiling heavy-water reactor, designed and built by the Norwegian Institutt for Atomenergi, has since June 1958 been operated as an international project. On its second charge the reactor was operated at power levels up to 25 MW and most of the time at a pressure of 28.5 kg/cm{sup 2}. During the period from July 1964 to December 1966 the plant availability was close to 64% including shutdowns because of test fuel failures and loading/unloading of fuel. Disregarding such stops, the availability was close to 90%. The average burnup of the core is about 6200 MWd/t UO{sub 2} : the most highly exposed elements have reached 10000 MWd/t UO{sub 2}. The transition temperature of the reactor tank has been followed closely. The results of the surveillance programme and the implication on the reactor operation are discussed. The reactor is located in a cave in a rock. Some experiences with such a containment are given. To locate failed test-fuel elements a fuel failure location system has been installed. A fission gas collection system has saved valuable reactor time during clean-up of the reactor system following test fuel failures. Apart from one incident with two of the control stations, the plant control and instrumentation systems have functioned satisfactorily. Two incidents with losses of 150 and 200 kg of heavy water have occurred. However, after improved methods for leakage detection had been developed, the losses have been kept better than 50 g/h . Since April 1962 the isotopic purity of the heavy water (14 t) has decreased from 99.75 to 99.62%. The tritium concentration is now slightly above 700 {mu}C/cm{sup 3}. This activity level has not created any serious operational or maintenance problems. An extensive series of water chemistry experiments has been performed to study the influence of various operating parameters on radiolytic gas formation. The main results of these experiments will be reported. Different materials such as mild steel, ferritic steel and aluminium have been used in the primary circuits. Experience with these materials is reported. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1968}
month = {Apr}
}