Abstract
Abstract The TRIGA fuel of the Philippine Research Reactor-1 (PRR-1) will be used in a subcritical reactor assembly (SRA) to strengthen and advance nuclear science and engineering expertise in the Philippines. SRA offers a versatile and safe training and research facility since it can produce neutrons through nuclear fission reaction without achieving criticality. In this work, we used a geometrically detailed model of the PRR-1 TRIGA fuel to design a subcritical reactor assembly and calculate physical parameters of different fuel configurations. Based on extensive neutron transport simulations an SRA configuration is proposed, comprising 44 TRIGA fuel rods arranged in a 7 × 7 square lattice. This configuration is found to have a maximum k e f f value of 0.95001 ± 0.00009 at 4 cm pitch. The SRA is characterized by calculating the 3-dimensional neutron flux distribution and neutron spectrum. The effective delayed neutron fraction and mean neutron generation time of the system are calculated to be 748 pcm ± 7 pcm and 41 μs , respectively. Results obtained from this work will be the basis of the core design for the subcritical reactor facility that will be established in the Philippines.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
