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Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors
Nuclear Science and Engineering Division at Argonne
U.S. Department of Energy

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Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2002 International RERTR Meeting

The Current Status of Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor and Proposed Core Conversion Studies

Pham Van Lam, Le VinhVinh, Huynh Ton Nghiem,

LuongBaVien and Nguyen KienCuong

Nuclear Research Institute
01 Nguyen Tu Luc St., Dalat, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

The Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor (DNRR) with nominal power of 500 kW accumulated eighteen years of operation in March 2002 since its renovation from the previous 250 kW TRIGA-MARK II reactor. It totaled 22703 hrs at nominal power. The total energy released was 473 MWd. The DNRR uses WWR-SM fuel assembly with 36% enrichment. Weight of uranium 235 in assembly is about 40.2 g.

In April 1994, after more than 10 years of operation with 89 fuel assemblies, the first fuel reloading was executed. The 11 new fuel assemblies were added in the core periphery, at previous beryllium element locations. After reloading the working configuration of reactor core consisted of 100 fuel assemblies. The reloading operation increased the reactor excess reactivity from 3.8 $ to 6.5 $. This ensured exploitation of the DNRR for 8 years with 1200-1300 hrs per year at nominal power before second refueling.

The second fuel reloading was executed in March 2002. The 4 new fuel assemblies were added in the core periphery, at previous beryllium element locations. After reloading the working configuration of reactor core consisted of 104 fuel assemblies. The reloading operation increased the reactor excess reactivity from 2.7 $ to 3.8 $. This fuel reloading will ensure efficient exploitation of the DNRR for 3 years with 1200-1300 hrs per year at nominal power. The DNRR has been operated safely. It is used for isotope production, neutron activation analyses, research and training. This paper presents current status and proposed core conversion studies of the DNRR.


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Contact:
Mr. Pham Van Lam

Deputy Director
Nuclear Research Institute
1 Nguyen Tu Luc Str., Dalat, Vietnam
Phone: (84 63) 833 439
Fax: (84 63) 821 107
E-mail: [email protected]

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Last modified on July 29, 2008 11:34 +0200