2006 International RERTR Meeting

Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the Meeting

WWR-SM Conversion to LEU IRT-4M Oxide Fuel

Nelson A. Hanan
RERTR Program
Argonne National Laboratory

Umar S. Salikhbaev, Sapar Baytelesov, A. A. Dosimbaev
Institute of Nuclear Physics
Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

ABSTRACT

Previous study has shown that the best LEU fuel for conversion of the WWR-SM reactor in Ulugbek (Uzbekistan) is the IRT-3M UMo fuel. However, this fuel is not going to be available in the next couple of years. The Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP-UZ) has decided to convert the WWR-SM reactor using presently available IRT-4M oxide LEU fuel, until the IRT-3M UMo LEU fuel is available. To do that without loss of performance for the present experimental program the size of the core will increase to 20 fuel assemblies (FA) and the power of the reactor will increase to 11 MW (instead of 18 FA and 10 MW for the present core). The INP and the RERTR-ANL have cooperatively started the analysis for this conversion. This paper presents results for the neutronics analysis (burnup, power distributions and shutdown margin), the steady state thermal hydraulics analysis and the kinetics parameters for the cycle-by-cycle conversion process. Relevant comparisons are also made with the present IRT-3M HEU oxide core.

 

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