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.