DDE-MURR Status Report of Conceptual Design Activities

Abstract

The Design Demonstration Experiment for the University of Missouri Research Reactor (DDE-MURR) is intended to facilitate Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) conversion of the MURR by demonstrating the performance and fabrication of the LEU fuel element design through an irradiation test in a 200mm channel at the Belgium Reactor 2 (BR2). Revision 0 of this report was prepared at the end of government fiscal year 2012 when most of the resources for furthering DDE design work were expected to be postponed. Hence, the conceptual design efforts were summarized to provide the status of key objectives, notable results, and provisions for future design work. Revision 1 of this report was prepared at the end of fiscal year 2013 in order to include results from a neutronic study performed by BR2, to incorporate further details that had been achieved in the engineering sketches of the irradiation devices, and to provide an update of the DDE-MURR campaign in relation to program objectives and opportunities for its eventual irradiation. These updates were purposed to bring the DDE-MURR conceptual design to level of maturity similar to that of the other two DDE efforts (DDE-MITR and DDE-NBSR). This report demonstrates that the DDE-MURR design effort is well on the path to producing a suitable irradiation experiment, but also puts forth several recommendations in order to facilitate success of the irradiation campaign.