Masters Theses

Keywords and Phrases

ACRR; Beryllium; Critical experiment; Nuclear; Sandia; Spectrum

Abstract

“The goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of utilizing Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) fuel in core design with Sandia Pulse Reactor Facility’s (SPRF) Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) fuel rods as driver fuel for a critical experiment facility to support future critical and benchmark experiments for the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) handbook. This is part of the Critical Experiment Design (CED) process for future criticality experiments. These criticality experiment designs have the main goal of being performed in the same facility at different neutron energy ranges. To test the feasibility of this experiment facility design, analysis was performed on different configurations of the ACRR fuel with the well-characterized 7uPCX driver fuel. Metrics to determine the most suitable configuration included a critical reactor system with 35%-enriched 235U ACRR fuel, ability to acquire beryllium and beryllium oxide cross section data through the critical experiment, and spectrum shifting beyond regular nuclear physics of criticality. The final results yielded a critical experiment design using fully built ACRR fuel elements with a neutron energy spectrum that is 78.15% thermal, 15.76% intermediate, and 5.73% fast. This final design of a critical experiment facility is for a thermal neutron energy experiment design. Many variations were performed on this thermal design and found to have difficulty shifting the neutron energy spectrum into higher energy ranges. With ongoing work, an intermediate neutron energy experiment design may be created in a way to fit in this facility”--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Alajo, Ayodeji Babatunde

Committee Member(s)

Alam, Syed B.
Schlegel, Joshua P.

Department(s)

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science

Degree Name

M.S. in Nuclear Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2022

Pagination

xiv, 384 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographic references (page 383).

Rights

© 2022 Ashley Rachel Raster, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12132

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