Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2004 International RERTR Meeting
LVR-15 REACTOR PERFORMANCE AND TRANSFORMATION TO LOW ENRICHED FUEL
ŞJ. Kysela, J. Ernest, M. Marek
Nuclear Research Institute Rez, plc. 25068 Rez Czech
Republic
ABSTRACT
Concerning of nuclear material safety, most of the research reactors are advised to shift from HEU (high enriched-%93 U235) to LEU (low enriched-%20 U235) fuel elements. When LEU and HEU fuel elements are to be used together in a research reactor, some design and safety problems are encountered. According to use of the reactor, some research reactors such as MTR type may not show any considerable difference for HEU or LEU fuel elements, but the efficiency of radio-isotop production generated by thermal neutron interaction may decrease about twenty-thirty percent when LEU fuel elements are used. Here, fine mesh-sized 3D neutronic analysis of TR-2 research reactor is presented to indicate the arising problem when LEU end HEU fuel elements are used together in a research reactor. Partial thermohydraulic analysis of the reactor is also given to show the betterness of the LEU fuel element design. However, there might be some points that should be noticed for safer operation of plate type fuelled research reactors.
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Contact:
Dr. Jordi Roglans-Ribas
Technical Director, RERTR Department
Nuclear Engineering Division – 362
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
Fax: +1 630-252-5161
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