Extension of the Advanced Test Reactor Operating Envelope Via Enhanced Reactor Physics Validation Techniques
Abstract
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is currently in the process of qualifying a low-enriched-uranium fuel element design for the new Ki-Jang Research Reactor (KJRR). As part of this effort, a prototype KJRR fuel element was irradiated in this paper for several operating cycles in the northeast flux trap of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The KJRR fuel element contained a very large quantity of fissile material (618 g 235U) in comparison with historical ATR experiment standards (<1 g 235U), and its presence in the ATR flux trap was expected to create a neutronic configuration that would be well outside of the approved validation envelope for the reactor physics analysis methods used to support ATR operations. Accordingly, it was necessary to conduct an extensive set of new low-power physics measurements in the ATR Critical Facility (ATRC), a companion facility to the ATR, located in an immediately adjacent building and sharing the same fuel storage canal. The new measurements included fission power distributions, reactivity, and measurements related to the calibration of the in-core online instrumentation. The effort was focused on the objective of expanding the validation envelope for the computational reactor physics tools used to supportmore »
- Authors:
-
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst. (KAERI) (Korea, Republic of)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1466653
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nuclear Technology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 201; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
- Publisher:
- Taylor & Francis - formerly American Nuclear Society (ANS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; research reactors; experiments; physics
Citation Formats
Nielsen, Joseph W., Nigg, David W., and Norman, Daren R. Extension of the Advanced Test Reactor Operating Envelope Via Enhanced Reactor Physics Validation Techniques. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1080/00295450.2017.1356647.
Nielsen, Joseph W., Nigg, David W., & Norman, Daren R. Extension of the Advanced Test Reactor Operating Envelope Via Enhanced Reactor Physics Validation Techniques. United States. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1356647
Nielsen, Joseph W., Nigg, David W., and Norman, Daren R. Wed .
"Extension of the Advanced Test Reactor Operating Envelope Via Enhanced Reactor Physics Validation Techniques". United States. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1356647. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1466653.
@article{osti_1466653,
title = {Extension of the Advanced Test Reactor Operating Envelope Via Enhanced Reactor Physics Validation Techniques},
author = {Nielsen, Joseph W. and Nigg, David W. and Norman, Daren R.},
abstractNote = {The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is currently in the process of qualifying a low-enriched-uranium fuel element design for the new Ki-Jang Research Reactor (KJRR). As part of this effort, a prototype KJRR fuel element was irradiated in this paper for several operating cycles in the northeast flux trap of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory. The KJRR fuel element contained a very large quantity of fissile material (618 g 235U) in comparison with historical ATR experiment standards (<1 g 235U), and its presence in the ATR flux trap was expected to create a neutronic configuration that would be well outside of the approved validation envelope for the reactor physics analysis methods used to support ATR operations. Accordingly, it was necessary to conduct an extensive set of new low-power physics measurements in the ATR Critical Facility (ATRC), a companion facility to the ATR, located in an immediately adjacent building and sharing the same fuel storage canal. The new measurements included fission power distributions, reactivity, and measurements related to the calibration of the in-core online instrumentation. The effort was focused on the objective of expanding the validation envelope for the computational reactor physics tools used to support ATR operations and safety analysis to include the planned KJRR irradiation in the ATR and similar experiments that are anticipated in the future. The computational and experimental results have demonstrated that the neutronic behavior of the KJRR fuel element in the ATRC is well understood in terms of its general effects on ATRC core reactivity and fission power distributions and its effects on the calibration of the ATR Lobe Power Calculation and Indication System, as well as in terms of its own internal fission rate distribution and total fission power per unit ATRC core power. Finally, taken as a whole, these results have significantly extended the ATR physics validation envelope, thereby enabling an entire new class of irradiation experiments.},
doi = {10.1080/00295450.2017.1356647},
journal = {Nuclear Technology},
number = 3,
volume = 201,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 16 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Wed Aug 16 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journalWorks referenced in this record:
Sensitivity- and Uncertainty-Based Criticality Safety Validation Techniques
journal, March 2004
- Broadhead, B. L.; Rearden, B. T.; Hopper, C. M.
- Nuclear Science and Engineering, Vol. 146, Issue 3
A fission matrix based validation protocol for computed power distributions in the advanced test reactor
journal, December 2015
- Nielsen, Joseph W.; Nigg, David W.; LaPorta, Anthony W.
- Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 295