This report documents the final design phase of the Critical Experiment Design (CED-2) conducted as part of integral experiment request (IER) 523. The purpose of IER 523 is to determine critical configurations of 35 weight percent (wt%) enriched uranium dioxide beryllium oxide (UO2-BeO) material driven by an annular ring of Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) fuel rods at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia). The experiments will provide benchmark data on water moderated, intermediately enriched UO2 systems as well as Be nuclear data. The experiment will also provide partial validation for the beryllium oxide (BeO) thermal neutron scattering law (TSL) in the thermal energy range. Experiment design concepts, neutronic analysis results, and proposed paths for continuing the CED process are presented. This report builds on the feasibility and justification of experimental need report (CED-0) and preliminary experiment design report (CED-1) completed in December 2021 and September 2023, respectively [1, 2].
This presentation titled "Updates on UO2-BeO Experiment (IER 523)" covers experiment status, experiment motivation, CED-1 summary, current efforts (CED-2), and includes a concluding summary.
The purpose of this proposal is to design a new integral critical experiment to investigate the effects of beryllium oxide and high assay low-enriched uranium fuels. this proposal considers using several existing resources at Sandia: (1) the Critical Experiments (SCX) facility and water tank, (2) spare UO2-BeO fuel for the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR), and 7uPCX fuel rods from previous benchmark experiments.
This report documents the preliminary design phase of the Critical Experiment Design (CED-1) conducted as part of integral experiment request (IER) 523. The purpose of IER-523 is to determine critical configurations of 35 weight percent (wt%) enriched uranium dioxideberyllium oxide (UO2-BeO) material with Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) fuels at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia). Preliminary experiment design concepts, neutronic analysis results, and proposed paths for continuing the CED process are presented. This report builds on the feasibility and justification of experimental need report (CED-0) completed in December 2021.
This lecture is on the design of a Uranium Dioxide-Beryllium Oxide UO2-BeO Critical Experiment at Sandia. This presentation provides background info on the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR). Additionally, this presentation shows experimental and alternative designs and concludes with a sensitivity analysis.
Sandia National Labs has access to unused ACRR fuel, which is unique in its enrichment 35% and material composition BeO. ACRR fuel is available in quantities well above what is needed for experiments. Two experiment concepts have been investigated: UO2BeO fuel elements and pellets with 7uPCX fuel. The worth of UO2BeO is large enough to be well above the anticipated experiment uncertainties.
