Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor Research Articles

The windscale advanced gas-cooled reactor

The main purpose of the reactor development programme of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is to develop reactor systems that are economically more attractive than the present series of nuclear stations. The Windscale A.G.R. forms one of the main lines of development undertaken by the Authority over the past five years.

The Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor

The Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor

Progress on the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor at Windscale

Progress on the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor at Windscale

Design of Irradiation Experiments

The effect of in-pile irradiation on fissile and non-fissile materials is discussed briefly, distinction being drawn between the effects of neutrons, β particles and γ rays. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the design of experimental equipment needed to investigate these effects. The eight phases of an irradiation experiment are discussed and attention is drawn to the importance of the initial specifications. Methods for determining the fluxes and heat generation in test rigs are given. Five experiments are described in some detail. The description of the carbon dioxide semi-static experiment gives a method of controlling the non-fissile specimen temperature in-pile. The graphite-carbon dioxide dynamic mass transfer experiment is designed to investigate the transfer mechanism in graphite-moderated carbon-dioxide-cooled reactors. The liquid metal mass transfer experiment poses special problems of safety. The description of the water-cooled fuel specimen experiment shows how the temperature of the specimen is maintained constant even during pile shut-down. The advanced gas-cooled reactor (A.G.R.) fuel cluster experiment is described to show the difficulty of simulating operating reactor conditions in a materials-testing reactor. The paper is concluded by a brief reference to the philosophy or thinking of irradiation experiments.

Oxidation of Beryllium in Carbon Dioxide and in Carbon Monoxide

THE metal beryllium has been suggested as a possible canning material in the advanced gas-cooled thermal reactor, so that its oxidative behaviour at elevated temperatures in carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and mixtures of these two gases is of some technological importance. Published work on the oxidation of beryllium in carbon dioxide is limited to the investigation of Munro and Williams1, which covered the temperature range 500–700° C.; here the course of the oxidation was followed by intermittent weighing, the sample being cooled to room temperature for each measurement. The purpose of this communication is to report briefly some of the results of a recent study of both the chemistry and the kinetics of the reaction between French Flake beryllium and carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and their mixtures (usually at a pressure of 10 cm.) and at temperatures in the range 500–750° C. The samples were chemically polished before use.

United States and Great Britain to exchange Data on Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

United States and Great Britain to exchange Data on Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor Power Stations

Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor Power Stations