Self-Limiting Power Excursion Characteristics of Light Water Reactor, (II)

Abstract

The power excursion characteristics of a water-moderated UO2 fuel reactor were investigated by pulse operation tests on the Hitachi Training Reactor. A series of pulse operation tests were performed without mishap with reactivity insertions up to 1.20% Δk/k, corresponding to a reactor period of 15 msec. With a reactivity insertion of 1.20% Δk/k, the peak power and energy release to the time of peak power were found to be restricted by the Doppler effect to 118 MW and 4.1 MW-sec respectively. Comparison were made between experimental and calculated values of peak power and energy for various published resonance integral temperature coefficients.