Steady-State Safety Analysis of Ghana Research Reactor-1 With Low-Enriched-Uranium Core

Abstract

Research reactors all over the world are expected to operate within certain safety margins just like pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors. These safety margins mainly include onset of nucleate boiling ratio (ONBR), departure from nucleate boiling ratio (DNBR), and flow instability ratio (FIR) in addition to the maximum clad or fuel temperature and saturation temperature or boing point of the coolant inside the core of the reactor. This study carried out steady-state safety analysis of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) with low enriched uranium (LEU) core. Monte Carlo N-particle (MCNP) code was used to obtain radial and axial power peaking factors used as inputs in the preparation of the input file of plate temperature code of Argonne National Laboratory (PLTEMP/ANL code), which was then used to obtain the mentioned safety parameters of GHARR-1 with LEU core in this study. The data obtained on the ONBR were used to obtain the initiation of nucleate boiling boundary data with respect to the active length of the reactor core for various reactor powers. The obtained results for LEU core were also compared with that of the high enriched uranium (HEU) core. The results obtained show that the 34 kW GHARR-1 with LEU core is safe to operate just as the previous 30 kW HEU core was safe to operate.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control Programmes of Research Reactor Operation and Utilization at GHARR-1 Facility

“…The GHARR-1 facility is mainly used for Research and Development (R&D) in nuclear technique and nuclear engineering, Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), human resource development for Ghana's nuclear power programme and for education and training [1,2]. Table (1) shows comparison of technical specification of Ghana Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) LEU core with that of the HEU core. Figure (1) and Figure (2) show schematic diagram of the coolant flow pattern and the arrangement of 335 fuel rods and 15 dummy rods of 350 lattice structure of the LEU core respectively.…”

“…Table (1) shows comparison of technical specification of Ghana Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) LEU core with that of the HEU core. Figure (1) and Figure (2) show schematic diagram of the coolant flow pattern and the arrangement of 335 fuel rods and 15 dummy rods of 350 lattice structure of the LEU core respectively.…”

Ageing Management Activities at the Ghana Research Reactor-1 Facility

“…For over two decades of continuous operation, ageing and obsolesces tendency of the facility is inevitable of its SSCs. This work presents ageing management activities which had been carried out to keep the GHARR-1 HEU core operational until the core was changed [6] to the LEU core. The instrumentation and control problems encountered since the LEU core became operational and how these problems were resolved to keep the LEU core operational including routine and corrective maintenance programmes put in place to address instrumentation and control problems.…”

“…Obsolesce of components and containment structures are also presented. Detailed features of GHARR-1 HEU and LEU are found in references [6].…”

Steady-State Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of the LEU-Fueled Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor

“…Besides, the PLTEMP/ANL code was used to evaluate the safety parameters at a steady state of the hottest FB of the newly designed 10 MW multipurpose research reactor using VVR-KN fuel [13]. In addition, the PLTEMP/ANL code was also applied for modeling and simulation of coupled nuclear heat energy deposition and transfer in the HEU pin-type fuel assembly, as well as for steady-state safety analysis of LEU core of the GHARR-1 reactor [14,15]. e verification and validation of the PLTEMP/ANL code were also carried out by comparison with experimental data and calculation results for thermohydraulic analysis of research reactors using MTR fuel [16].…”