NUCLEAR ANALYSES OF THE N.S. SAVANNAH REACTOR WITH ZIRCALOY OR STAINLESS STEEL AS FUEL-ELEMENT CONTAINERS
Nuclear comparisons were made of Zircaloy and stainless steel as fuel- element container materials in the N. S. SAVANNAH core I design. In order to make the comparison, a four-group model employing a combination of onedimensional S/sub n/ transport-theory and two-dimensional diffusion-theory calculations was devised. The main features of the analytical model are geometrical detail and the use of the S/sub n/ method to obtain transport-theory equivalent-boundary conditions at the surface of control rods. Application of the four-group model to the N. S. SAVANNAH core I design revealed that, relative to stainless steel fuel-element containers, a Zircaloy fuel-element container structure would increase control rod worth by DELTA k = 0.043 and would increase core reactivity by DELTA k = 0.062 for the same fuel enrichment. Although these two fuelelement container materials produced slightly different power distributions, the over-all peak-to-average power ratio appeared to be the same. In order to complete the comparison, simple one-dimensional radial burnup cal culations were performed. The burnup calculations indicated that the heterogeneous effect of the fuel- element containers on control rod worth would allow a 60% increase in the reactivity lifetime of core I-type fuel elements in Zircaloy fuel-element containers relative to the reactivity lifetime attainable in stainless steel fuel- element containers. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-26
- NSA Number:
- NSA-16-018661
- OSTI ID:
- 4818689
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL-3261
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-62
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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