Critical Assembly Mockup of the SEFOR Reactor in ZPR-3
- Argonne National Lab., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- General Electric Co., Pleasanton, CA (United States)
- Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Cadarache (France)
The critical assembly for the SEFOR reactor, which has been built in ZPR-3, is the first large, plutonium fueled critical assembly to be built in the fast breeder program. Beryllium oxide has been included in the design of the 528-liter core to soften the neutron spectrum to match more nearly that of a large power reactor and to enhance the Doppler effect. Metal fuel plates are used in the core. Sodium carbonate, along with some aluminum, is used to represent the sodium coolant and the oxygen in the SEFOR oxide fuel. There is a region of sodium and stainless steel between the core and the radial reflector. The reflector is made of nickel and is used for control of the SEFOR reactor. Because of the SEFOR design requirement to minimize the effects of axial thermal expansion, measurements were made in three different core mockups. The basic measurements were made in a one-segment, or reference, core, and several of these measurements were repeated in mockups of a two-segment fuel element core and a three-segment fuel element core.
- Research Organization:
- 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-21-035694
- OSTI ID:
- 4329186
- Report Number(s):
- ANL-7320
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International Conference on Fast Critical Experiments and their Analysis, Argonne, IL (United States), 10-13 Oct 1966; Other Information: UNCL. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-67
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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