Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
1998 International RERTR Meeting

A Neutronic Feasibility Study for LEU Conversion
of the MARIA Research Reactor

M. Bretscher, N. A. Hanan, and J. E. Matos
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, IL, USA

and

Andrzejewski and T. Kulikowska
Institute of Atomic Energy
Swierk, Poland

Abstract

The MARIA reactor is a high-flux multipurpose research reactor which is water-cooled and moderated with both beryllium and water. Standard HEU (80% ²³⁵U) fuel assemblies consist of six concentric fuel tubes of a U-Al alloy clad in aluminum. Although the inventory of HEU fuel is nearly exhausted, a supply of highly-loaded 36% enriched fuel assemblies is available at the reactor site. Neutronic equilibrium studies have been made to determine the relative performance of fuels with enrichments of 80.0%, 36.0% and 19.7%. These studies have identified the uranium loading in the fuel assemblies needed for the LEU conversion of the MARIA reactor.

---

---