Analytical analyses of startup measurements associated with the first use of LEU fuel in Romania`s 14-MW TRIGA reactor
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Institute for Nuclear Research, Pitesti (Romania)
The 14-MW TRIGA steady state reactor (SSR) is located in Pitesti, Romania. Beginning with an HEU core (10 wt% U), the reactor first went critical in November 1979 but was shut down ten years later because of insufficient excess reactivity. Last November the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR), which operates the SSR, received from the ANL RERTR program a shipment of 125 LEU pins fabricated by General Atomics and of the same geometry as the original fuel but with an enrichment of 19.7% 235U and a loading of 45 wt% U. Using 100 of these pins, four LEU clusters, each containing a 5 x 5 square array of fuel rods, were assembled. These four LEU clusters replaced the four most highly burned HEU elements in the SSR. The reactor resumed operations last February with a 35-element mixed HEU/LEU core configuration. In preparation for full power operation of the SSR with this mixed HEU/LEU core, a number of measurements were made. These included control rod calibrations, excess reactivity determinations, worths of experiment facilities, reaction rate distributions, and themocouple measurements of fuel temperatures as a function of reactor power. This paper deals with a comparison of some of these measured reactor parameters with corresponding analytical calculations.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 10105681
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/EP/CP-77812; CONF-9209266-6; ON: DE93004152
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1992 international meeting on reduced enrichment for research and test reactors,Roskilde (Denmark),27 Sep - 1 Oct 1992; Other Information: PBD: [1992]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Transition from HEU to LEU fuel in Romania`s 14-MW TRIGA reactor
Transition from HEU to LEU fuel in Romania's 14-MW TRIGA reactor
Related Subjects
TRIGA TYPE REACTORS
FUEL RODS
REACTOR CORES
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
REACTOR START-UP
REACTOR KINETICS
ROMANIA
220600
220100
220300
RESEARCH
TEST
TRAINING
PRODUCTION
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS TESTING REACTORS
THEORY AND CALCULATION
FUEL ELEMENTS