Kinetic parameters of a material test research reactor fueled with high density U 3Si 2 dispersion fuels

Abstract

The kinetic parameters of a material test research reactor fueled with high density U 3Si 2 dispersion fuels were calculated. For this purpose, the low density LEU fuel of an MTR was replaced with high density U 3Si 2 LEU fuels currently being developed under the RERTR program. Calculations were carried out to find the core excess reactivity, prompt neutron generation time and effective delayed neutron fraction. Nuclear reactor analysis codes including WIMS-D4 and CITATION were employed to carry out these calculations. It is observed that the excess reactivity (Δ k/ k), prompt neutron generation time (μs) and effective delayed neutron fraction at the beginning of life followed the relationships 0.05403 + 0.00286 ρ U − ( 0.92958 / ρ U 2 ) , 10 6 / ( 922.338 + 5268.82 ρ U − 70.863 ρ U 2 ) and ( 7.2165 − 7.238 × 10 − 3 ρ U ) / 1000 , respectively, for 4.0 ≤ ρ U ( g / cm 3 ) ≤ 6.0 .