Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the 1999 International RERTR Meeting
FEASIBILITY STUDY TO RESTART THE
RESEARCH
REACTOR RA WITH A CONVERTED CORE
M. V. MATAUŠEK, I. PLEĆAŠ, N. MARINKOVIĆ
VINČA Institute of Nuclear
Sciences, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
ABSTRACT
Main options are specified for
the future status of the 6.5 MW heavy water research reactor RA. Arguments pro and
contra restarting the reactor are presented. When considering the
option to restart the RA reactor, possibilities to improve its neutronic
parameters, such as neutron flux values and irradiation capabilities, are
discussed, as well as the compliance with the worldwide activities of Reduced
Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program. Possibility of core
conversion is examined. Detailed reactor physics design calculations are
performed for different fuel types and uranium loading. For different fuel
management schemes results are presented for the effective multiplication
factor, power distribution, fuel burnup and consumption. It is shown that, as
far as reactor core parameters are considered, conversion to lower enrichment
fuel could be easily accomplished. However, conversion to the lower enrichment
could only be justified if combined with improvement of some other reactor
attributes.