Open AccessMini Subcritical Nuclear Reactor
Author(s) -
Héctor René VegaCarrillo,
Vishwanath Pratap Singh,
Claudia Rafela Escobedo-Galván,
Diego Medina Castro,
Arturo Agustin Ortiz Hernandez,
T. Rivera-Montalvo,
Segundo Agustín Martínez Ovalle
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of nuclear physics, materials sciences, radiation and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2321-9289
pISSN - 2321-8649
DOI - 10.15415/jnp.2019.62026
Subject(s) - nuclear engineering , natural uranium , neutron flux , neutron , enriched uranium , research reactor , uranium , neutron moderator , neutron poison , radius , hybrid reactor , monte carlo method , materials science , nuclear fuel , nuclear reactor core , nuclear reactor , neutron temperature , nuclear physics , neutron cross section , physics , blanket , mathematics , engineering , statistics , computer security , computer science , composite material
A mini subcritical nuclear reactor was designed using Monte Carlo methods. The reactor has light water as moderator, natural uranium as fuel, and a 239PuBe neutron source. In the design uranium fuel was modeled in an arrangement of concentric rings: 8.5, 14.5, 20.5 26.5, 32.5 cm-inner radius, 3 cm-thick, and 36 cm-high. Different models were made from a single ring of natural uranium to five rings. For each case, the neutron spectra, the neutron fluence distribution, the effective multiplication factor, the amplification factor, and the reactor power were estimated. The ambient dose equivalent rate outside the mini reactor was also estimated. The maximum value for the keff (0.78) was obtained when five rings of fuel were used; this value is close to 0.86 which belongs to a Nuclear Chicago subcritical reactor which requires almost twice the amount of uranium than the mini subcritical reactor.