Thermal Performance of a Fast Neutron Test Concept for the Advanced Test Reactor. 2008 ANS Annual Meeting (Preprint)

摘要

Since 1967, the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has provided state-of-the-art experimental irradiation testing capability. A unique design is investigated herein for the purpose of providing a fast neutron flux test capability in the ATR. This new test capability could be brought on line in approximately 5 or 6 years, much sooner than a new test reactor could be built, to provide an interim fast-flux test capability in the timeframe before a fast-flux research reactor could be built. The proposed cost for this system is approximately $63M, much less than the cost of a new fast-flux test reactor. A concept has been developed to filter out a large portion of the thermal flux component by using a thermally conductive neutron absorber block. The objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of this experiment cooling concept.