Critical Experiment with BORAX-V: Internal Superheater

Technical Report · Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1963

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4101127· OSTI ID:4101127

Plumlee, K. E. ^[1]; Baird, Q. L. ^[1]; Stanford, G. S. ^[1]; Amundson, P. I. ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

A critical experiment was performed with 12 BORAX-V superheater subassemblies in a central voidable region plus 1228 to 1525 UO₂ fuel pins (3 w/o enriched) in a peripheral region. Removing water (28% of superheater volume) at room temperature decreased reactivity by 2.2%. The midplane (two-dimensional) peak-to-average power distribution in the voided superheater was approximately 1.24, mostly attributable to flux depressions within insulated fuel boxes. Cadmium ratios are also reported. The experiment was initiated to supplement computational information which might have affected plans for loading the superheater zone into the BORAX-V reactor. No changes were indicated by the experiment.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31-109-ENG-38
• NSA Number: NSA-18-009601
• OSTI ID: 4101127
• Report Number(s): ANL-6691
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-64
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BORAX-5
CADMIUM
CADMIUM RATIO
CONFIGURATION
COOLANT LOOPS
CRITICAL ASSEMBLIES
CRITICALITY
DISTRIBUTION
ENERGY
ENERGY RANGE
EPITHERMAL NEUTRONS
EQUATIONS
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAS COOLANT
LEVELS
MASS
MEASURED VALUES
NEUTRON FLUX
NEUTRONS
NUMERICALS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR FUELING
REACTOR SAFETY
RESEARCH REACTORS
RODS
SPECTRA
STEAM
SUPERHEATING
TEMPERATURE
THERMAL NEUTRONS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
VARIATIONS
VOLUME
WATER COOLANT
WATER MODERATOR
ZONES
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
UO2
Reactivity
Flux Depression
Fuel Box
Cadmium Ratio