Thermal-hydraulic Assessment of the Proposed NIST Neutron Source Design

Published

October 6, 2023

Author(s)

Anil Gurgen, Abdullah Weiss, Joy Shen

Abstract

To replace the ageing reactor at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, a new reactor design is proposed, namely the NIST Neutron Source or NNS. The NNS will contain a light-water moderated and cooled core that would serve as a neutron source for a state-of-the-art facility for neutron scattering and irradiation experiments to the domestic and international scientific community. The core is planned to use a 3x3 rectangular core fueled with low-enriched U-10Mo curved plates with aluminum cladding, where each assembly contains 21 plates, yielding a total of 64 coolant channels in each row in the core. This work details the development of a custom thermal-hydraulics analysis model capable of computing flow rates and axial temperature distributions of the coolant, the cladding, and the fuel. Analyses include temperature distributions, and thermal safety margins such as the Critical Heat Flux Ratio (CHFR) and the Onset of Flow Instability Ratio (OFIR). This work also discusses how the operation parameters affect the temperature fields and safety margins of the NNS.

Conference Dates

August 20-25, 2023

Conference Location

Washington, DC, US

Conference Title

20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.13182/NURETH20-40169

Local Download

Keywords

Thermal hydraulics, NNS, Uncertainty

Citation

Gurgen, A. , Weiss, A. and Shen, J. (2023), Thermal-hydraulic Assessment of the Proposed NIST Neutron Source Design, 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Washington, DC, US, [online], https://doi.org/10.13182/NURETH20-40169, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=936315 (Accessed April 28, 2024)