Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2005 International RERTR Meeting

Feasibility Analysis for LEU Conversion of the WWR-K Reactor Using an Eight-Tube Uranium Dioxide Fuel Assembly

F. Arinkin, P. Chakrov, L. Chekushina, Sh. Gizatulin, K Kadyrzhanov, S. Koltochnik, Zh. Zhotabaev
Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources,
The Institute of Nuclear Physics affiliated to the Kazakhstan National Nuclear Center1
Ibragimov str., 1, 050032 Almaty - Kazakhstan
I. Dobrikova, A. Vatulin – A.A.Bochvar All-Russian Scientific Research Institite of Inorganic Materials,
Russian Federation
V.Nassonov, A.Taliev - RRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Russian Federation

and

N. A. Hanan
RERTR Program
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, IL 60439-4842 – U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

The WWR-K research reactor presently uses HEU (36%) fuel. Results of analysis performed for several core configurations for the WWR-K reactor using thin-walled eight- and four-tube LEU fuel assemblies (FA) with uranium dioxide fuel of the mass density 2.8 g⋅cm-3 are presented. Core configurations using light water and beryllium reflectors are considered. Reactor core characteristics such as excess reactivity, the reactivity worth of the CPS control rods, the operation cycle periods, the fuel burnup levels, the generated power densities in the core, and the thermal/fast neutron fluxes in irradiation channels are calculated with the computer codes MCU-REA and MCNP-4/B. Results of steady-state thermal-hydraulics results performed with the code ASTRA are also presented. The results show that for all the LEU options analyzed the performance of the reactor is improved when compared with the present HEU core.

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