Abstract
The Program for the Analysis of Reactor Transients/Argonne National Laboratory (PARET/ANL) code was used to predict the thermal hydraulic behaviour of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 after adding 9.0 mm of beryllium to the top shim tray of the core. The core was analysed for reactivity insertions 2.1 mk, 3.0 mk, 4.0 mk, 5.0 mk and 6.7 mk, respectively. The reactor is still safe to operate in the range 2.1 mk to 4.0 mk. However, 2.1 mk would be ideal since the reactor automatic shutdown (SCRAM) is set not to exceed 120% of reactor nominal power.
Highlights
As a reactor operates, fuel burnup continues with accumulation of fission products in the fuel meat which makes the neutron spectrum softer
The Reactor Burn up System (REBUS), Monte Carlo N-Particle code version 5 (MCNP5), Program for analysis of Reactor Transients (PARET) codes have been used in this work
PARET/ANL code was unable to simulate correctly reactivity insertions for 5.0 mk. This is observed through the huge difference between experimental data and that predicted using PARET/ANL code for reactivity insertion of 5.0 mk
Summary
Fuel burnup continues with accumulation of fission products in the fuel meat which makes the neutron spectrum softer. Reactor cores surrounded by beryllium metal might have provision to increase the thickness of beryllium to compensate for neutron population lost due to fuel depletion and accumulation of neutron poisons. Each time changes are made to the reactor core either through refueling or addition of beryllium; neutronics and thermal-hydraulic. Any activity that may influence neutronic, thermal-hydraulic and mechanical properties of a reactor should be supported by safety evaluations. This is to ascertain that the reactor is operating within prescribed safety margins [2]. The Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) has been in operation for nineteen years and due to accumulation of fission products in the fuel meat, the excess reactivity dropped from 4.0 mk to about 2.3 mk. Transients of GHARR-1 are evaluated relative to addition of 9.0 mm of beryllium based on the PARET/ANL code
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