NORTHWEST
PAUFlC lJORTHWEST LABORATURIES
BNWL-1383 UC-80, R e a c t o rT e c h n o l o g y POWER TESTS WITH THE U02-2 w t % P u 0 2 BATCH CORE I N THE PRTP J . W . K u t c h e r a n d R . I . S m i t h R e a c t o r P h y s i c s D e p a r t m e n t
May 1970BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORIES RICHLAND, WASHINGTON 99352 P r i n t e d i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s of America A v a i l a b l e from C l e a r i n g h o u s e f o r F e d e r a l S c i e n t i f i c and T e c h n i c a l I n f o r m a t i o n N a t i o n a l Bureau of S t a n d a r d s , U.S. Department of Commerce S p r i n g f i e l d , V i r g i n i a 22151 P r i c e : P r i n t e d Copy $ 3 . 0 0 ; M i c r o f i c h e $0.65 ABSTRACT As a p a r t of t h e BATCH CORE EXPERIMENT i n t h e Plutonium Recycle T e s t R e a c t o r (PRTR), a s e r i e s o f power t e s t s was conducted when t h e r e a c t o r l o a d i n g was completed, a t v a r i o u s powers up t o 60 Mi. These
t e s t s were d e s i g n e d p r i m a r i l y t o v e r i f y p r e d i c t e d o p e r a t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e PRTR w i t h t h e BATCH CORE l o a d i n g , b u t a l s o i n c l u d e d t h o s e p h y s i c s tests which r e q u i r e dpower o p e r a t i o n .The t e s t s i n c l u d e d f l u x t r a v e r s e s , o p e r a t i o n of t h e t r a v e l i n g f l u x w i r e system, t r a n s i e n t r e s p o n s e o f t h e r e a c t o r t o t h e a d d i t i o n and removal o f boron from t h e D 0 moderator, d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f r e a c t o r power, t e m p e r a t u r e 2 c o e f f i c i e n t s o f r e a c t i v i t y , k i n e t i c s p a r a m e t e r s , and t h e growth and decay of f i s s i o n p r o d u c t p o i s o n i n g . R e s u l t s of t h e s e t e s t s a r e p r e s e n t e d i n t h i s r e p o r t .