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Organization and Management of a Radiation Safety Office
Published in Kenneth L. Miller, of Radiation Protection Programs, 2020
Steven H. King, Rodger W. Granlund
Releases of radioactive material from a research reactor are normally only a fraction of permissible levels. The releases in case of an accident which damages the core could be quite large compared to the inventory of other radionuclides at a university. However, most research reactors are designed and operated so that the possibility of fuel failure is minimized and fuel melting is unlikely. The most likely release in an accident would be noble gases. The calculated dose at ground level adjacent to the reactor for such released are usually low enough that evacuation is not required. The use of long-lived alpha emitters, radioiodine, 90Sr, 60Co, or 137Cs in campus labs could pose as much of a hazard in the case of fire or other accident as the design base accident for a research reactor.
Nuclear Fission Reactor
Published in C. K. Gupta, Materials in Nuclear Energy Applications, 1989
Research reactors have been greatly beneficial: they have furthered the development of the nuclear industry; they have served to advance the frontiers of research in medicine, education, science and technical fields; they have contributed significantly to the success of nuclear reactor technology.
New Security Concepts for Advanced Reactors
Published in Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2023
Alan Evans, John L. Russell, Benjamin B. Cipiti
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates the security, operations, and safeguards of nuclear power facilities and research reactors in the United States. The NRC is proposing new rulemaking language that will allow for a technology-inclusive and performance-based approach to regulate the security of ARs. The new options are meant to consider advanced technologies that allow for the improved detection, delay, and response of security incidents. This new shift in regulatory requirements is being developed in two stages, with the first being alternative physical security requirements2 and the second being a risk-informed, technology-inclusive regulatory framework for ARs through a new licensing framework in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 53 (Ref. 3).
Investigation of Thermohydraulic Limits on Maximum Reactor Power in LEU Plate–Fueled, Pool-Type Research Reactor
Published in Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2022
More than 200 research reactors are under operation around the world, and 24 reactors are planned or under construction.1 They are widely utilized for material irradiation, isotope production, neutron applications, and education. The Purdue University research reactor (PUR-1) is a multipurpose research reactor for teaching, training, and material irradiation. The PUR-1 is a pool-type research reactor that has a rectangular parallelepiped core surrounded by graphite moderators. In 2007, the high-enriched uranium fuel plates in the PUR-1 were replaced with low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel.2 In addition, the licensed operating power was increased from 1 to 10 kW in 2016 (Ref. 3). The passive nuclear safety of a pool-type research reactor relies on various parameters, e.g., negative reactivity and cooling capacity. The dynamics of coolant water in a reactor driven by natural convection is important for reactor safety. For example, the fuel surface temperature increases mainly due to heat from nuclear reactions, i.e., fissions and decays. The temperature and density variation of the coolant cause buoyancy pressure head, and heated water moves upward by overcoming gravity and friction on the surface.
Monte Carlo analyses of light-water-moderated and light-water-reflected cores with highly-enriched uranium fuel at Kyoto University Critical Assembly
Published in Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2022
Critical assemblies of test and research reactors have been used mainly in implementing three reactor physics experiments: mock-up experiments for developing new-type reactors; benchmark experiments for validating numerical precision of calculation codes and nuclear data libraries; and training experiments for contributing to nuclear reactor education. Also, critical assemblies have generally been operated at room temperature on zero power, and measurement and calculation methodologies have been verified with the use of experimental data of criticality, reactivity, and reaction rates. Since the effects of reactivity feedback on the core condition at room temperature are found to be minimal in critical assemblies, reactor physics parameters are experimentally measured in the isothermal condition, and numerically evaluated under very little burnup condition.