Transient and steady state characteristics of a Boiling Reactor. The Borax Experiment, 1953

Reactor Stability Tests in the Spert Iv Facility

“…In these tests, large amounts of reactivity (3.0 to 5.0$) were added to the system in ramp-fashion in an effort to induce divergent oscillntions in the reactor power behavior. The name of these tests was derived from the largeamplitude power oscillation ph.e.nornenon obaervd in Borax 1 and Spert I l Z j which has been termed "chugging", The purpose of these tests was (a) to experimentally determine the instability threshold for divergent power behavior with various hydrostatic heads above the core and (b) to obtain data on the dynamic behavior of the core when the instability thresl~old has been exceeded.…”

Boiling Reactor Experiment V (BORAX-V) (Design and Hazards Summary Report)

“…However, a comparison on a specific energy basis is of more general interest. With 188 lb of metal in the BORAX I core (as estimated from ANL-5211), (19) the 135 Mw-sec corresponds to 377 cal/g of core. Data from direct fission product (Mo'') determinations of the irradiated pins and calculations of nvt^j^ from gold-foil activation have shown that for the TREAT metal-water tests on the particular oxide and cermet core fuel samples, there is approximately a one-to-one correspondence between the energy of the TREAT burst in Mw-sec and the fission energy absorbed by the fuel pin in cal/g.…”

An energy model for the transient flow boiling crisis under highly subcooled conditions at atmospheric pressure

“…Several full size reactors have been developed in the past to investigate thermohydraulic phenomena induced by exponentially heating conditions: BORAX [2] , SPERT-I [3] and SPERT-IV [4] in the USA, NSRR [5] in Japan and CABRI [6] in France. These experiments provide a realistic overview of the system behavior during such accidental scenarii, as they are real nuclear cores which combine thermal hydraulics and neutronics coupling.…”