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In 1994 it was shown, by a computational method, at the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Technical Physics that the ratio of the thermal-neutron fluence in the central experimental channel of a pulse uranium-graphite reactor [ 1] to the energy release increases by approximately 30-40% as the core heats up from 300 to -1200 K. This effect, called for brevity "bleaching" of graphite, is caused by a decrease of the effective trapping and fission cross sections with increasing energy of the thermal neutrons as a result of their thermalization in graphite at a higher temperature. On account of the bleaching, as the uranium-graphite fuel is heated not only is a nonlinear relation between the energy release and fluence observed, but the mean-free path length of thermal neutrons and therefore their leakage from the core increase, which gives rise to intense self-quenching of the reactivity and determines the reactor dynamics, the parameters of the fission pulses, the required efficiency of the control rods, the excess reactivity introduced, and the consequences of accidents. Computational substantiation of the multichannel pulsed uranium-graphite reactor [2] is in progress at the All-Russia Scientific-Research Institute of Technical Physics, using the PRIZMA-D [3] and MCNP [4] programs, which have been verified on experimental data [5, 6]. Calculations have shown that the graphite bleaching effect is stronger in a multichannel pulsed graphite reactor than in pulse graphite reactor, and the indicated ratio of the neutron fluence to energy release for the MIRG reactor increases by 100% as the core heats up from room temperature to 2000 K. To verify the programs, experiments were performed on the pulse graphite reactor measuring the fluence of thermal and fast neutrons in bursts with small energy release at a different initial core temperature and with the fuel heated up to 1020 K in 1995 and up to 1220 K in 1997. Measurement Procedure. To measure the fluence of thermal and fast neutrons 176Lu, 197Au, 186W, 139La, 59Co, 63Cu, 23Na, 45Sc, 5~ 27A1, 58Ni, and 47Ti pure-metal foil activation detectors consisting based on aluminum alloys or epoxy resinswere irradiated in open form and in cadmium screens -15 mm in diameter and 7 mm high cylindrical containers with 1 mm thick walls. During irradiation the open detectors and the cadmium-containing detectors were separated from one another by at least 5 cm in the horizontal direction. Three sets of detectors were irradiated in each run: one set was placed 100 nun below the geometric center of the central experimental channel in empty space, the second set was placed 100 nun above the center in a 80 mm in diameter and 80 mm high steel container with a 9.3 mm thick wall, and the third set was placed at the geometric center of the side experimental channel in empty space. The temperature of the active zone was measured with a standard thermocouple, placed at the center of the column "g-9," and its indications were close to the average-volume temperature of the core.
In 1994 it was shown, by a computational method, at the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Technical Physics that the ratio of the thermal-neutron fluence in the central experimental channel of a pulse uranium-graphite reactor [ 1] to the energy release increases by approximately 30-40% as the core heats up from 300 to -1200 K. This effect, called for brevity "bleaching" of graphite, is caused by a decrease of the effective trapping and fission cross sections with increasing energy of the thermal neutrons as a result of their thermalization in graphite at a higher temperature. On account of the bleaching, as the uranium-graphite fuel is heated not only is a nonlinear relation between the energy release and fluence observed, but the mean-free path length of thermal neutrons and therefore their leakage from the core increase, which gives rise to intense self-quenching of the reactivity and determines the reactor dynamics, the parameters of the fission pulses, the required efficiency of the control rods, the excess reactivity introduced, and the consequences of accidents. Computational substantiation of the multichannel pulsed uranium-graphite reactor [2] is in progress at the All-Russia Scientific-Research Institute of Technical Physics, using the PRIZMA-D [3] and MCNP [4] programs, which have been verified on experimental data [5, 6]. Calculations have shown that the graphite bleaching effect is stronger in a multichannel pulsed graphite reactor than in pulse graphite reactor, and the indicated ratio of the neutron fluence to energy release for the MIRG reactor increases by 100% as the core heats up from room temperature to 2000 K. To verify the programs, experiments were performed on the pulse graphite reactor measuring the fluence of thermal and fast neutrons in bursts with small energy release at a different initial core temperature and with the fuel heated up to 1020 K in 1995 and up to 1220 K in 1997. Measurement Procedure. To measure the fluence of thermal and fast neutrons 176Lu, 197Au, 186W, 139La, 59Co, 63Cu, 23Na, 45Sc, 5~ 27A1, 58Ni, and 47Ti pure-metal foil activation detectors consisting based on aluminum alloys or epoxy resinswere irradiated in open form and in cadmium screens -15 mm in diameter and 7 mm high cylindrical containers with 1 mm thick walls. During irradiation the open detectors and the cadmium-containing detectors were separated from one another by at least 5 cm in the horizontal direction. Three sets of detectors were irradiated in each run: one set was placed 100 nun below the geometric center of the central experimental channel in empty space, the second set was placed 100 nun above the center in a 80 mm in diameter and 80 mm high steel container with a 9.3 mm thick wall, and the third set was placed at the geometric center of the side experimental channel in empty space. The temperature of the active zone was measured with a standard thermocouple, placed at the center of the column "g-9," and its indications were close to the average-volume temperature of the core.
For a reliable calculation of the neutron characteristics of uranium-graphite reactors, for example, the pulse graphite reactor (IGR) [ 1] and the planned multichannel pulse graphite reactor (MIGR) [2], the All-Union Research Institute of Technical Physics, together with the Institute of Atomic Energy of the National Nuclear Center of the Kazakhstan Republic have verified [3] programs for solving three-dimensional particle-transport problems using the Monte Carlo method: the Russian PRIZMA.D [4] and KLAN [5] (both with the BAS library of neutron constants [6]) and the American MCNP-4A [7]. The programs were verified on the basis of Kef f for different configurations and temperatures of the active zone of the IGR, the lifetime of the neutrons, the size and distribution of the neutron fluences, the reactivity temperature effect and the characteristics of the fission pulses. The possibility of using these programs [8] to predict perturbations in the three-dimensional distribution of the number of fissions in the active zone, which reaches several tens of percent for different positions of the control rods, has been demonstrated.In this paper, we present the results of experimental investigations of the characteristics of a pulse graphite reactor and a verification of these programs. A KTV type two-section small fission chamber with a length of the sensitive part of each section (nl and n2) of 40 mm was set up in the central experimental channel of the pulse graphite reactor. A cylindrical steel box 30 mm in diameter, 2 mm in cross section and 200 mm high, containing 1 I0 g of crystalline boric acid was displaced along the axis of the channel by means of an electric motor (Fig. 1). We measured the current of both sensitive sections of this fission chamber as it moved along the channel, while simultaneously maintaining the reactor at constant power. The total path of the box was 1500 mm, and the rate of displacement was 150 mmfsec. The contribution of the box with the absorber to the reactivity of the reactor was estimated to be -0.575~e ft. An oscillogram of the currents of the chamber sections (Fig. 2) confirms that the current is constant when the box with the absorber is far from the sensitive part of each section and is reduced by approximately 10% when the box is facing the section. The instants when the minima are recorded are separated in time by 3 sec, which corresponds to the time taken for the box to travel from the sensitive part of one section of the chamber (n l) to the other (n2).
This article reports on experimental and computational investigation of the perturbations of the three-dimensional neutron field in the core of the IGR pulsed graphite reactor [1]. The field was perturbed by the withdrawal from the core of control rods KS7, KS8, and RR, located between the central and lateral test channels, and the insertion of rods into other parts of the reactor core. The distribution of the number of fissions in the entire core is difficult to measure directly since this requires that the reactor vessel be unsealed and a large number of activation indicators be put in the gaps between the columns of the reactor core. In the experiment a simpler way was chosen to estimate the perturbations of the three-dimensional neutron field, i.e., by determining the ratios of the current from neutron detectors placed inside the central channel, outside the reactor core in a lateral side channel, and in a water tank in various directions relative to the center of the reactor core. Analysis of the current ratios for different control rod positions and, therefore, of the neutron field perturbations allowed the variation of the distribution of the number of fissions in the reactor core to be estimated.The three-dimensional neutron field was calculated with PRISMA.D programs [2] using BAS [3] and MCNP constants [4]. Both programs were verified by Ker r for different IGR configurations and core temperatures, neutron lifetimes, neutron fluence distributions, temperature effects of the reactivity, and fission pulse characteristics [5]. The experimental results reported here enabled us to assess the possibility of using computer programs to predict perturbations in the three-dimensional distribution of the number of fissions in the reactor core, which reaches several tens of percent for various control rod positions.Formulation and Results of Experiment. The number of fissions increases in the part of the reactor core near the three absorbing rods KS7, KS8, and RR when their withdrawal is accompanied by a decrease in the number of fissions in the other parts of the core, where the other rods are inserted. At the center of the reactor core changes either do not occur at all or are very small. This assumption has thus far been supported only by calculation and indirect processing of the results of this experiment. That assumption is the basis of this experiment, where we measure the current of neutron detectors at the center of the central and side channels, which is proportional to the number of fissions near the center of those channels, for three small pulses with the three rods KS7, KS8, and RR indifferent positions (inserted fully, half-way, and roughly one-third of the way), analyze the change in the current of the side channel detector relative to the current of the central channel detector, and estimate the perturbation of the neutron field and compare it with the calculated perturbation. The current of neutron detectors in the water tank beyond the graphite reflector cannot be set in correspondence with the n...
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