THERMAL AND NEUTRONIC ANALYSIS FOR IRRADIATION OF ADVANCED NEUTRON-ABSORBING MATERIAL IN THE HIGH FLUX ISOTOPE REACTOR

摘要

Commercial nuclear reactors use neutron absorbers(material being mainly Ag-In-Cd and B_4C) to controlpower level and to safely shut down the plant. Recently,there has been increased interest in accident-tolerantabsorber materials that can survive the extreme conditionsduring a beyond-design-basis accident for an extendedperiod of time. Framatome developed four new absorbermaterials that are more stable under severe accidentconditions and have higher melting points compared withcurrent absorbers.Oak Ridge National Laboratory is supporting thisongoing research and development by designing anirradiation experiment to test these unique absorbermaterials to gain an understanding of the irradiationeffects under realistic light-water-reactor temperaturesand temperature gradients and verify their performanceunder these environmental conditions.This project is funded by the US Department ofEnergy, Office of Nuclear Energy Nuclear Science UserFacility. Ultimately, the data generated from this researchwill assist in quantifying the irradiation-induced swellingof different absorber materials needed to predict anddemonstrate performance under irradiation.