Using Fast Burst Assembly Designs to Demonstrate Safe Assembly of KRUSTY Core Components

摘要

As discussed above, differences in geometry and alloy content can affect the critical mass of a burst reactor design. Since the KRUSTY fuel is 32 kg, this mass is much less than any of the 3A mass estimates for the Godiva series of burst reactors listed in Table 1 (even without consideration for geometry and alloy content difference). Three quarters of a critical mass estimate for 8 weight percent U-Mo alloy metal would be closer to and less than the Moly-Godiva data and greater than the Godiva II (H/ D near 2.0) mass estimate. One can make the safety case that manual assembly of the KRUSTY fuel pieces using this data can be safely performed. This conclusion is conservative because we are not accounting for the fact that the KRUSTY fuel has an annular geometry which would further increase the critical mass estimate for the configuration.