Design, Development and Installation of Jordan Subcritical Assembly

Abstract

Following its announcement in 2007 to pursue a nuclear power program and in the absence of any nuclear facility essential for the education, training, and research, Jordan decided to build a subcritical reactor as its first nuclear facility. Jordan Subcritical Assembly (JSA) is uranium fueled light water moderated and reflected subcritical reactor driven by a plutonium-beryllium source, and the core consists of 313 LEU fuel rods, loaded into a water-filled vessel in a square lattice of 19.11&#x2009;mm pitch. The fuel rods are based on PWR fuel structural pattern type, made of uranium oxide (UO<sub >2</sub>) with 3.4&#x2009;wt&#x25; <sup >235</sup>U enrichment in zirconium alloy (Zr-4) cladding. Design, optimization, and verification were performed using MCNP5 nuclear code; the computed effective multiplication factor <svg style="vertical-align:-3.39069pt;width:37.962502px;" id="M1" height="16.4125" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 37.962502 16.4125" width="37.962502" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,.062,12.138)"><path id="x28" d="M300 -147l-18 -23q-106 71 -159 185.5t-53 254.5v1q0 139 53 252.5t159 186.5l18 -24q-74 -62 -115.5 -173.5t-41.5 -242.5q0 -130 41.5 -242.5t115.5 -174.5z" /></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,5.944,12.138)"><path id="x1D43E" d="M764 650l-7 -26q-61 -10 -91.5 -22.5t-76.5 -48.5l-235 -184q104 -152 208 -276q31 -37 54.5 -48.5t68.5 -16.5l-7 -28h-156q-138 170 -213 284q-19 29 -33.5 35t-33.5 -7l-29 -173q-15 -75 -5.5 -90.5t74.5 -20.5l-5 -28h-260l7 28q58 5 74 21.5t30 89.5l70 378&#xA;q12 68 2 83t-72 22l6 28h257l-7 -28q-62 -7 -76 -21.5t-27 -83.5l-32 -172q29 11 78 46q112 84 217 179q18 16 23.5 25.5t-1 14.5t-26.5 8l-30 4l5 28h249z" /></g> <g transform="matrix(.012,-0,0,-.012,19.138,16.212)"><path id="x65" d="M380 106l15 -22q-42 -52 -87 -74t-76 -22q-89 0 -142 62t-53 151q0 103 66 175q67 73 146 73h1q61 0 105.5 -46.5t44.5 -105.5q0 -16 -4.5 -22.5t-18.5 -9.5q-54 -10 -262 -17q1 -95 46 -143.5t104 -48.5q61 0 115 50zM225 412q-35 0 -64.5 -32.5t-40.5 -90.5q83 0 170 3&#xA;q14 0 19 4.5t5 15.5q1 41 -23.5 70.5t-65.5 29.5z" /></g><g transform="matrix(.012,-0,0,-.012,24.194,16.212)"><path id="xFB00" d="M187 566v-116h189c1.33478 44.0001 4.00146 75.3334 8 94c5.33411 24.0005 14.0008 46.3339 26 67c28 48 75 72 141 72c30.0005 0 54.8339 -5.83331 74.5 -17.5c19.6691 -11.6667 29.5024 -26.5 29.5 -44.5c0 -11.3368 -4 -21.0035 -12 -29c-8 -8 -18 -12 -30 -12&#xA;c-16 0 -31 12 -45 36c-16.0016 26 -33.6682 39 -53 39c-37.3333 -0.000915527 -56 -29.6676 -56 -89v-116h115v-32h-115v-315c0 -37.3333 5 -61 15 -71c11.3333 -10.6667 37.3333 -16.3333 78 -17v-15h-245v15c28.6667 2 47 8.33333 55 19c8.66666 10.6667 13 34 13 70v314&#xA;h-188v-314c0 -38 3.66667 -61.6667 11 -71c6.66667 -8.66667 25.6667 -14.6667 57 -18v-15h-235v15c36.6667 2 59.3333 8 68 18c10 11.3333 15 35 15 71v314h-82v32h82c1.33344 43.3338 4.0001 74.3338 8 93c4.66666 22 13.6667 44.6667 27 68c28 48 75 72 141 72&#xA;c29.3333 0 52.8333 -5.83331 70.5 -17.5s26.5 -26.5 26.5 -44.5c0 -11.3368 -4 -21.0035 -12 -29c-8 -8 -18 -12 -30 -12c-8 0 -14.1667 2.16669 -18.5 6.5s-10.8333 14.1667 -19.5 29.5c-16 26 -33.6667 39 -53 39c-37.3335 -0.000915527 -56.0001 -29.6676 -56 -89z" /></g> <g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,32.012,12.138)"><path id="x29" d="M275 270q0 -296 -211 -440l-19 23q75 62 116.5 174t41.5 243t-42 243t-116 173l19 24q211 -144 211 -440z" /></g> </svg> is 0.95923. The JSA is designed to fulfill the training needs of students and is equipped to perform all of the fundamental experiments required for a typical nuclear engineering university program. This paper presents the design, development, modeling, core analysis, and utilization of Jordan&#x2019;s first nuclear facility and why this simplified low cost reactor presents an attractive choice to fulfill the preliminary experimental needs of nuclear engineering education in developing countries.