Safety requirements, facility user needs, and reactor concepts for a new Broad Application Test Reactor

Ryskamp, J.M.; Liebenthal, J.L.; Denison, A.B.; Fletcher, C.D.

doi:10.2172/10185932

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Therefore, it may not be the best material for extending the thermal flux to as great a distance from the pressure vessel as possible. Also seen in Table 4-1 is H 2 O performing worse than any of the other candidate reflectors with regard to both initial k eff and B 1 . Figure 4-7 shows the radiative capture cross sections of four of the key nuclides in these reflector materials.…”

Section: Performance Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The name given to the family of reactors conceptualized was the Broad Application Test Reactor (BATR). [1,2,3,4] By the end of the BATR study in 1993, two reactor concepts had emerged as leading candidates. Both called for plate fuel and were moderated by beryllium and/or D 2 O and cooled by light water with a rated power of 250 MW th .…”

Section: Figuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was an evolutionary ATR design calling for several key design changes including a power uprate, a change in coolant direction from downflow to upflow, and an increase in the beryllium reflector size. [1] In the 1990's, it was assumed that proposed research and test reactors operated by the Department of Energy (DOE) could use highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel. Because this is no longer considered an option, any new research reactors proposed will likely be required to use low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, which contains less than 20% 235 U by mass.…”

Section: Figuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since this is the point at which the reactor is critical, neutron flux tallies were taken from the time step closest to this condition. The number of days of burnup required to reach this point is called B 1 . This value can be used to compare the achievable burnup between reactors and to estimate what the cycle length and discharge burnup would be if other refueling schemes were applied.…”

Section: Responsive Developersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of Concepts for Mulitiple Application Thermal Reactor for Irradiation eXperiments (MATRIX)

Pope

Gougar

Ryskamp

2013

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The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a high power density test reactor designed primarily for accelerated irradiation of nuclear fuels and materials irradiation under controlled environmental conditions. For more than 45 years, the ATR has operated primarily in support of the Office of Naval Reactors (NR) but the mission has gradually expanded to cater to other customers, such as the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), private industry, and universities. . Featuring nine large flux traps that can accommodate independently-cooled high-pressure In-Pile Tubes (IPTs), ATR is still reliable and effective but increasingly expensive to maintain and operate every year. The sophisticated test hardware and experiments required of recent fuel and materials irradiation campaigns are limited by the safety limits and operating envelope of this aging facility, which are becoming harder to meet as equipment reliability is diminished. Furthermore, the fabrication and transport of its highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel is deemed a proliferation concern. Under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), ATR and the other high flux test reactors in the US fleet must eventually be converted to low enriched uranium (LEU) in order to continue operating. Studies are underway to assess the costs and technical viability of this fuel conversion. One foreseeable outcome is that the cost of upgrades, fuel conversion, and more frequent LEU fuel loadings needed to keep ATR viable will exceed those of building and operating a replacement reactor. In anticipation of this scenario, work was commenced under the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program to investigate test reactor concepts that could satisfy the current missions of the ATR. Naturally, the needs of other value-adding missions were considered as part of the initial design study.This work build upon a project from the 1990's called the Broad Application Test Reactor (BATR). In FY 2012, a survey of anticipated customer needs was performed, followed by analysis of the original BATR concepts with fuel changed to low-enriched uranium. Departing from these original BATR designs, four concepts were identified for further analysis in FY2013. The project informally adopted the acronym MATRIX (Multiple-Application Thermal Reactor for Irradiation eXperiments). This report discusses analysis of the four MATRIX concepts along with a number of variations on these main concepts. Designs were evaluated based on their satisfaction of anticipated customer requirements and the "Cylindrical" variant was selected for further analysis of options. This downselection should be considered preliminary and the backup alternatives should include the other three main designs.The analysis described within indicates that the baseline Cylindrical MATRIX design can achieve a higher burnup than the ATR (or longer cycle length given a particular batch scheme). The volume of test space in IPTs is larger in MATRIX than in ATR with comparable magnitude of neutron flux. In addition to the IPTs, ...

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Section: Performance Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 96%