ISSN:
1573-8205
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
,
Physics
Notes:
Abstract It is shown that the influence of cavities, formed in the reactor active zone after the removal of regulating and emergency rods, on the critical mass of a “basin-type” reactor cannot always be neglected. For example, after the removal of four special assemblies representing a combination of regulating rods and heat-producing elements, the reactor critical mass can increase by 20–30%, depending on the position of the rods and the size of the cavities in the active zone. The evaluation of the influence of the cavities was made with the help of the two-group method, for a reactor consisting of a number of zones. The first zone was taken to be the central cavity, which behaves as a reflector, the second taken to be the active zone. The external reflector was considered to be the third zone. It was found that the change in the distribution of the thermal neutron flux, caused by the presence of the central cavity, extends to a distance of 8 cm from the center of a cavity of radius ∼3.2 cm. Therefore, if the regulating rods in a “basin-type” reactor are separated by a distance of 15–20 cm, as is the case in practice, then it can be expected that the influence of one cavity on another will be small and that reasonably good results can be obtained if the effects produced by the individual cavities are simply added.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01490999
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