Publications Details

Replacement fuel scoping studies for the Annular Core Research Reactor

Hays, K.; Martin, L.; Parma, E.

Sandia National Laboratories Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) is undertaking a new mission for the Department of Energy: production of the radioisotope {sup 99}Mo used in nuclear medicine applications. Isotope production is significantly different from previous programs conducted at the ACRR that typically required high intensity, short duration pulses. The current UO{sub 2}-BeO fuel will power the initial startup phase of the production program, and can perform exceptionally well for this mission. However, this type of fuel is no longer available, commercially or otherwise. This paper presents the results of some preliminary studies of commercially available fuels.