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Experiments with partially-reflected square-pitched arrays of water-moderated 6.9 percent enriched UO2 fuel rods

ICNC 2015 - International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety

Harms, Gary A.; Miller, Allison D.; Ford, John T.; Campbell, Rafe

The Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) at Sandia National Laboratories was designed to provide benchmark criticality and reactor physics data for water-moderated pin-fueled nuclear reactor cores in the 5 to 10 percent enrichment range. Approach-to-critical experiments were performed on nineteen partially-reflected arrays of pure water-moderated and -reflected fuel rods with a fuel-to-water volume ratio of 0.67. Those configurations are described and the results of the measurements are reported in this paper.

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TYPE Conference Poster YEAR 2015
OSTIScopus

Results of partially-reflected critical experiments in square-pitched arrays of water-moderated 6.9 percent enriched fuel rods

Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

Harms, Gary A.; Ford, John T.; Campbell, Rafe

The Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) was designed to provide benchmark criticality and reactor physics data for water-moderated pin-fueled nuclear reactor cores. The enrichment of the fuel was chosen to explore the enrichment range above the current 5% ceiling for US commercial pressurized water reactors. The experiment was part of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) Project 01-124 titled “Reactor Physics and Criticality Benchmark Evaluations for Advanced Nuclear Fuel”. The NERI project was a collaboration between AREVA Federal Services, LLC; the University of Florida; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The experiments at Sandia are currently supported by the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration Nuclear Criticality Safety Program. Two sets of benchmark experiments have been completed and documented as LEU-COMP-THERM-080 and LEU-COMP-THERM-078. Those experiments were done with the number of fuel rods in the fully-reflected array as the approach parameter. The experiments reported here are similar to those in LEU-COMP-THERM-080 except that the arrays are partially-reflected – the arrays were larger than would be possible with full reflection and the approach-to-critical experiments were done with the depth of the water in the critical assembly as the approach parameter. These experiments are reported as LEU-COMP-THERM-096.

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TYPE Conference Poster YEAR 2015
OSTIScopus

Current status of the doe nuclear criticality safety program hands-on criticality safety training course at sandia

Topical Meeting Held by the ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Division, NCSD 2013 - Criticality Safety in the Modern Era: Raising the Bar

Harms, Gary A.; Knief, Ronald A.; Miller, Allison D.; Ford, John T.

A hands-on critical-experiment training class has been developed by the US DOE Nuclear Criticality Safety Program using the water-moderated pin-fueled critical experiments at Sandia National Laboratories. The class is offered as part of the NCSP training program for Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineers in a facility that allows attendance by both cleared and uncleared personnel. Laboratory exercises have been developed that demonstrate the effects of varying a number of the parameters that are considered important to criticality safety. Accompanying the experiments is a series of classroom presentations that emphasize the concepts that are demonstrated in the experiments.

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TYPE Conference YEAR 2013
OSTIScopus

Results of critical experiments on water-moderated fully-reflected 6.90% enriched UO2 fuel pin arrays with a fuel-to-water volume ratio of 0.52

Topical Meeting Held by the ANS Nuclear Criticality Safety Division, NCSD 2013 - Criticality Safety in the Modern Era: Raising the Bar

Harms, Gary A.; Miller, Allison D.; Ford, John T.

The Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) at Sandia National Laboratories was designed to provide benchmark criticality and reactor physics data for water-moderated pin-fueled nuclear reactor cores in the 5 to 10 percent enrichment range. Approach-to-critical experiments were performed on fifteen roughly cylindrical pure water-moderated and -reflected 7uPCX configurations with a fuel-to-water volume ratio of 0.52. Those configurations are described and the results of the measurements are reported in this paper.

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TYPE Conference YEAR 2013
OSTIScopus
Results 51–75 of 107
Results 51–75 of 107