Effect of Increasing Temperature on K-EFF for Fissile Material Outside Reactors

摘要

Nuclear Criticality Safety Evaluations typically employ room temperature cross sections, material densities, and dimensions. Processes that have been and are in development for conversion of legacy wastes in tanks, e.g., Waste Treatment Project (WTP) at the Hanford Remediation Site and Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at the Savannah River Site, utilize melters that operate at elevated temperatures, 1500 to 1900 degrees C. The applicability of room temperature data to processes such as these has been questioned. Also questioned was the applicability of room temperature data for the analyses across the Savannah River Site (SRS) where the temperature may be elevated, such as in a postulated fire. This analysis was performed to examine the effect of temperature over the relatively small range encountered in normal and abnormal operations at SRS that does not include DWPF melters.