International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Research Applications and Utilization of Accelerators
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ADS/ET-06
YALINA Booster Conversion Project Y. Gohar1, G. Aliberti1, F. Kondev1, D. Smitha1, A. Talamo1, Z. Zhong1, I. Bolshinsky2, H. 1Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA Corresponding Author: gohar@anl.gov The YALINA Booster subcritical assembly was constructed at the Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research (JIPNR)–SOSNY, Belarus to examine the physics of Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS). The assembly has fast and thermal zones to study the coupling between the two zones, the transuranics transmutation, and the ADS kinetics. It is driven by external neutron source located at the assembly center. The central fast zone (the booster zone) consists of high enriched uranium (HEU) fuel rods loaded in a lead matrix and it is surrounded by thermal zone. The thermal zone has low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel rods loaded in polyethylene moderator. Between the two zones, there is a thermal neutron absorber zone. (JIPNR)–SOSNY has an International Science and Technology Center project in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory of USA to convert the HEU fuel of YALINA Booster to LEU fuel without penalizing its performance. The first step of this project is to characterize and define the performance of the YALINA Booster subcritical assembly with HEU fuel by performing detailed analytical and experimental studies. The second step is to convert the booster zone to use uranium fuel rods with 21% enrichment. The YALINA Booster configuration is modified to reach the original subcriticality level. The analytical analyses have developed accurate calculational models without geometrical approximationsfor performing Monte Carlo and Deterministic calculations. MCNP, MCNPX, MCB, MONK, ERANOS, and PARTISN computer codes with different nuclear data libraries based on ENDF/VI, JEF2.2, and JEF3.1 have been used for static and kinetic analyses. The geometrical details are included explicitly without approximation or homogenization. In the experimental program, the subcriticality has been measured as a function of the number of the fuel rods loaded in the subcritical assembly. Different methods have been used to measure the assembly subcriticality during the fuel loading process. In addition, the spatial neutron flux distribution, spectral indices, and transmutation reactions rates have been measured. In this paper, the analytical models and the obtained results are presented including the static and the kinetic results. The experimental and analytical results are compared and discussed. The YALINA conversion results are also included. The authors have assigned to the International Atomic Energy Agency a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to publish this paper.
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