THE EFFECTS OF COOLANT TEMPERATURE AND INITIAL POWER LEVEL ON THE EXCURSION BEHAVIOR OF A HIGHLY ENRICHED PLATE CORE IN SPERT III — EXPERIMENT AND ANALYSIS

摘要

Presented is the experimental data obtained from self-limiting power excursion tests performed on a highly enriched, stainless steel clad, plate core in the Spert III facility. The tests were initiated by step-insertions of reactivity with the reactor at power levels ranging from low power (10 W) to high power (28 MW) and with various combinations of other plant parameters:pressure (atmospheric to 2500 psig), temperature (ambient to 600°F), and flow (0 to 20,000 gpm). The reactivity insertions ranged from≈ 0.4 to ≈ 1.2$, resulting in initial asymptotic reactor periods ranging from ≈ 1000 to ≈ 10 msec. The experimental data are correlated to show the effects of system temperature and initial power level on gross kinetic behavior. ART-04, a reactivity feedback model programmed for the computer to predict reactor transient behavior under operating conditions, is evaluated by comparing calculated and experimental transient data. The agreement between calculation and experiment is within the uncertainties associated with the data over the range of conditions considered.