Conjointly to the long term or sub-surface storage studies, an important effort is made on plutonium management and waste incineration in existing or innovative systems. In support to these studies, specific neutron integral experiments have been defined and in particular in the critical MINERVE facility of the CEA Cadarache. The OSMOSE program will be performed between 2003 and 2009. It deals with qualifying the integral cross sections of actinides appearing in reactor and fuel cycle physics, especially for multi-recycling of plutonium. Reactivity worth of several samples containing separated actinides from 23~ to 245Cm will be measured by an oscillation technique related to the perturbation theory with an accuracy better than 3%. Experiments will cover a wide range of neutron spectra, from thermal spectrum to fast spectrum.
Abstract. New online in-pile measurement methods are crucial during irradiations in Material Testing Reactors (MTR) for a better understanding of accelerated material ageing and nuclear fuel behaviour. In particular, instrumentation for measurements of one relevant parameter: nuclear heat deposition rate, called nuclear heating, has to be improved. The knowledge of this quantity is a great interest for various safety, scientist and end-user requirements (design of specific irradiation devices and associated cooling systems with imposed conditions). This paper focuses on thermal experimental and numerical studies carried out under non irradiation conditions on an in-pile calorimeter dedicated to nuclear heating quantification inside a new experimental device which will be dedicated to the experimental condition mapping (neutron and photon fluxes and nuclear heating) inside the JHR experimental channels. Experimental results concerning the calorimeter response during its electrical calibration (<3W) under laminar forced convection conditions show that its sensitivity does not depend on the cooling flow. Temperature and heat flux density measurements lead to the conclusion of a good directional conductive heat flow design (increased with a higher Reynolds number). A parametric numerical stationary study highlights a sensor sensitivity increasing. At last, the usual calorimeter design is compared to a single calorimeter which gives promising results (miniaturization, higher sensitivity).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.