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Reactor Criticality Calculation - Example

(1) A spherical thermal reactor with a radius of 100 cm consists of a homogeneous mixture of U-235 fuel and graphite moderator. (2) The reactor operates at 20°C and 100 kW of thermal power. (3) Calculations determine the geometric buckling to be 9.8 x 10-2 cm-2, the critical fuel mass to be 4.1 kg, and the infinite multiplication factor to be 1.273. (4) The diffusion area for the fuel-moderator mixture is 3,500 cm2 and the thermal flux is 2 x 1014 neutrons/cm2-s.

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100 views

Reactor Criticality Calculation - Example

(1) A spherical thermal reactor with a radius of 100 cm consists of a homogeneous mixture of U-235 fuel and graphite moderator. (2) The reactor operates at 20°C and 100 kW of thermal power. (3) Calculations determine the geometric buckling to be 9.8 x 10-2 cm-2, the critical fuel mass to be 4.1 kg, and the infinite multiplication factor to be 1.273. (4) The diffusion area for the fuel-moderator mixture is 3,500 cm2 and the thermal flux is 2 x 1014 neutrons/cm2-s.

Uploaded by

Ellie Austin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Criticality Calculation

Example: A spherical thermal reactor, 100 cm in radius (R) consists of a homogeneous mixture of U-235
fuel and graphite as a moderator. The reactor is critical and operates at 20°C and a power level of I 00
2
kW th• Using a modified one group criticality equation, calculate (a) the geometric buckling, 8 , (b) critical
fuel mass, mF (kg), (c) infinite multiplication factor, koo, (d) diffusion area, L-r2 for the fuel-moderator
mixture, and (e) thermal flux, ~T. Assume the resonance escape probabi Iity, p = I, and fast fission factor,
e= 1.
Use the following microscopic cross sections: aaM = 0.0030 barns,aaF = 590 barns) °I -=- ~o s Qo..r ""f .
Solution.
2 2 - ~
(a) For a spherical-i_reactor, the geometric buckling is given by 8 2 = (?:)R = (.!:._) = 9, ff x./0
100 '
ci,;,-~
2
(b) For graphite: L]i,,= 3,500 cm 2 andfi= 368 cm from Tables 5.2 and 5.3 in the handouz,
and
for U-235 at 20 °C, 1'\T = 2.065 fromtable 6.3 in the handout.
g::;. '3. l'f x ro- 2.ev.,..- I
From Eq. (3) in the lecture notes,

" /t-B~{L~..., +-'t'r ..,) _1+'!Jff,ro- f-(3s-po+ 16f) ; (JJ


Z 7/r - I - B'-'Lr,_, - 2-.06> -( -'t-~x ,a-+-lf.?.6/t l.; 6,/!7
From Eq. 4 in the lecture notes, the atom density of the fuel is given by, NF= l_ ~,.,, N_., (4)
where NM is the atom density of the moderator. rr;_F
Since the number of moles of fuel is NFVINA where Vis the volume of the reactor and NA is the
Avogadro's number, the critical mass of the fuel is given by Eq. 5 in the lecture notes.

m,~
o;l\,f V
· ~f'
IV1F Al
fvA IVM (5)

where MF is the atomic weight of the fuel and NM is the atom density of the moderator, which is
related to the total mass of the moderator, mM, by - t:Z- :::: J.. 3 !5"
::: i! .a;~ /1,:-
cf:_ M I "1
C<F , - '-1-1
The total mass of the moderator, mM, can be calculated as follows: r:::;_;;;: 12
3 6 3
For a sphere of l 00 cm radius, the volume V =~Tr R =4.189x 10 cm
3
Since graphite density PM= 1.6 g/cm 3, the total moderator mass is mM = PM~rrR = 6702 kg

Then, mF = 6, 8"7 O,,OP3 x 2 6 7o')_ KJt = 4, /, o kg-


'5$'
>fO Z _ 6. ~7
(c) ~,""u. = 1f1 .f. f -Z+I -- -'l, i? - = b. ?7.3
k z,
= o I) x o. r 7'J 1, 8 o 3
-:z..

ch tf: ,;, i".,__ b~ L; " ~-r;, · -


~T ::: 4 .s ,:.,,- B,-, {,A)~
,.
A = P/4-f?. 2
;.;:-
f

.f "' (00 k t;J"" /0{! 1


Od;O :To~l.ei
:: 2..00 Me V/fl.rs,oi, ~,2 ,( lo -(( .Je,u /.,.Llr_ .
f f;J~tO"'t

~f ,::c Iv;: rt
NF ;:: NA
'1f'Jp
V MF
C,()
0 <
.c:. f ':)._ g /'I- IO IP'o,1-J)( ..=>/ o3·..t ID-2~

q A S,S"/- ,((V/'s

-~ Co.t-·o:i~ · ~l . . )1d'f-t?fg
?-A1.Z...Je.t:-

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