A feasibility study of LEU enrichment uranium fuels for MNSR conversion using MCNP

Jonah, S.A.; Ibikunle, K.; Li, Y.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2009.05.001

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The two methods indicate that there is a decrease in the prompt neutron lifetime as you move from HEU to LEU as expected due to hard spectrum in the LEU fuel. This trend was also observed by some authors (Verboomen 2006, Jonah and Ibikunle 2009, Odoi et al 2014. The measured value of prompt neutron lifetime mentioned in the SAR is 81 μs (SAR 2005) The value of the neutron lifetime obtained using the new capability in the MCNP5 version 1.60 agrees very well with the value of 5.79±0.19 and 4.70±0.7 earlier reported for HEU and LEU core respectively (Jonah et al 2007, Jonah andIbikunle 2009) This indicates the capability in the MCNP5-1.60 to calculate neutron lifetime for NIRR-1 reactor without diluting the reactor materials with 1/v absorber.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Achieving the conversion of the NIRR-1 reactor from the current use of HEU is a good step in reducing and eventual elimination of HEU fuel in civil use (Trivelli 1999). A study by Jonah and Ibikunle (2009) has shown that it is possible to convert the reactor to LEU with enrichment of about 12.5% UO 2 fuel clad in Zr-4. Moreover, the core of the reactor is designed to operate for 10 years; core replacement is under consideration having operated for over 10 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Prompt neutron lifetime calculations for the NIRR-1 reactor

Ibrahim¹,

Adeleye²,

Njinga³

et al. 2015

Advances in Energy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Prompt neutron lifetime calculations have been performed for the NIRR-1 reactor HEU and LEU cores using the 1/v insertion and the Adjoint flux weighing methods. Results of calculations obtained for the HEU and LEU cores are respectively 57.3±0.8 and 47.5±0.7 for the 1/v insertion and 56.9±0.3 and 46.3±0.5 for the Adjoint flux. There is a good agreement seen between the two methods for both cores. The prompt neutron lifetime was observed to be shorter in the LEU than for the HEU as expected. However, the Adjoint flux weighing method seemed to be the easiest method in calculating the prompt neutron lifetime for NIRR-1.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prompt neutron lifetime calculations for the NIRR-1 reactor

Ibrahim¹,

Adeleye²,

Njinga³

et al. 2015

Advances in Energy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The major outcome of the CRP is that UO 2 pellets enriched to 12.5% would be used for the conversion of commercial MNSR facilities and the prototype in China. Similar investigations with the UO 2 pellets with enrichment of 12% and 12.5% have been reported for NIRR-1 in particular and MNSR in general [6] [7]. A detailed description of NIRR-1 and measured core physics data can be found in the final SAR [1].…”

supporting

confidence: 66%

MCNP Simulation of Physics Parameters of Dispersion Fuels for Conversion of NIRR-1 to LEU

Ibikunle¹,

Umar²,

Ibrahim³

et al. 2018

WJNST

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) is one of the Commercial Miniature Neutron Source Reactors (MNSRs) sited outside China and scheduled for conversion under the auspices of Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program. Since 2006, the reduction in the fuel enrichment of MSNR facilities from greater than 90% HEU cores to less than 20% LEU cores has been embarked upon. Consequently in this work, the physics parameters of three dispersion LEU fuels, which include U 3 Si, U 3 Si 2 , and U 9 Mo enriched to 19.75% were determined by the MCNP code to investigate their suitability for the conversion of NIRR-1 to LEU. The following reactor core physics parameters were computed for the LEU fuel options: clean cold core excess reactivity (ρ ex ), control rod (CR) worth, shut down margin (SDM), neutron flux distributions in the irradiation channels and kinetics data (i.e. effective delayed neutron fraction, β eff and prompt neutron lifetime, l f ). Results are compared with experimental and calculated data of the current HEU core and indicate that it would be feasible to use any of the LEU options for the conversion of commercial MNSR in general and NIRR-1 in particular from HEU to LEU.

show abstract

“…Two LEU cores with uranium oxide fuel pins of varying diameters were investigated. According to the study, the ndings obtained are equivalent to HEU core and indicate that it would be viable to employ any of the LEU choices for the conversion of NIRR-1 in particular from HEU to LEU (Jonah et al, 2009). Omar et al, (2010) recently conducted a study of 235U burn-up for the HEU-fueled Syrian MNSR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nigerian Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) Core Life-time Analysis using Winfrith Improved Multigroup Scheme-Argonne National Lab (WIMS-ANL) and REactor BUrnup System-Argonne National Lab (REBUS-ANL) Computer Code

Balami

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The core of the Nigeria Research Reactor-1 has been converted from Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) fuel to Low Enriched Uranium (LEU); nevertheless, a core lifetime analysis of the converted HEU and current LEU fuel is required. The core lifetime analysis of the NIRR-1 converted HEU and current LEU cores was carried out using the Winfrith Improved Multigroup Scheme-Argonne National Laboratory (WIMS-ANL) and Reactor BUrnup System-Argonne National Laboratory computer codes in this work (REBUS-ANL). One group cross section was generated using the WIMS-ANL. For core lifetime analysis, these group cross sections were employed in the REBUS-ANL programme. A simple reactivity rundown was performed to estimate the core lifetime for HEU and LEU cores at two power levels using the REBUS-ANL code (full and half power). The lifetime of the LEU core was predicted to be approximately 11.91 percent longer than that of the HEU core at full power and 11.81 percent at half power based on the results obtained. This is in good agreement with the value 11 percent reported in the literature, indicating that the selected LEU core can be operated for a longer period of time than the HEU core.

show abstract

A feasibility study of LEU enrichment uranium fuels for MNSR conversion using MCNP

Cited by 19 publications

References 4 publications

Prompt neutron lifetime calculations for the NIRR-1 reactor

Prompt neutron lifetime calculations for the NIRR-1 reactor

MCNP Simulation of Physics Parameters of Dispersion Fuels for Conversion of NIRR-1 to LEU

Nigerian Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) Core Life-time Analysis using Winfrith Improved Multigroup Scheme-Argonne National Lab (WIMS-ANL) and REactor BUrnup System-Argonne National Lab (REBUS-ANL) Computer Code

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About