Core Design Studies on a Low-Enriched Uranium Reactor for Cold Neutron Sources at NIST

Published

May 1, 2016

Author(s)

Zeyun NMN Wu, Robert E. Williams

Abstract

A LEU-fueled research reactor for cold neutron sources is currently being studied at NIST. The new design is targeting at least two high quality cold neutron sources. A tank-in-pool type reactor with a horizontally split compact core cooled by light water and reflected by heavy formance. The thermal power of the new reactor is designated at 20 MW and the operating cycle of the equilibrium core is set to be 30 days. Core design studies were performed mainly using the Monte Carlo code MCNP-6. The core performance characteristics at several representative burnup states of an equilibrium cycle including startup (SU) and end of cycle (EOC) are presented in the paper to demonstrate the performance of the new design. The calculated surface current at the exit hole of the cold neutron source is expected to achieve a gain factor of three compared to the cold neutron performance of the existing NSIT reactor.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings on International Conference on Reactor Physics PHYSOR 2016

Volume

00

Issue

00

Conference Dates

May 1-5, 2016

Conference Location

Sun Valley, ID

Conference Title

International Conference on Reactor Physics PHYSOR 2016

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Low-Enriched Uranium, Research Reactor, Cold Neutron Source

Citation

, Z. and , R. (2016), Core Design Studies on a Low-Enriched Uranium Reactor for Cold Neutron Sources at NIST, Proceedings on International Conference on Reactor Physics PHYSOR 2016, Sun Valley, ID, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=920284 (Accessed October 12, 2024)