T.S5 Flashcards
5 DESIGN FEATURES
5.1 Site and Facility Description
Specifications:
(1) The site is that area bound by the perimeter that encloses the Nuclear Science Center building, (also known as the Dodgen Research Facility), the fenced area immediately outside the east pool room loading dock door and the fenced area immediately outside the beam room west loading dock door.
(2) The Washington State University research reactor shall be located in the licensed area of the Dodgen Research Facility.
(3) The facility shall be the following:
(a) the room in which the WSU research reactor is located, also known as Room 201, the reactor control room which is within Room 201, the pump room, primary coolant water purification room, primary coolant and makeup water valve manifold room;
(b) the research reactor beam room, also known as Room 2.
(4) The facility shall be a restricted area.
5.2 Reactor Fuel
Specifications:
(1) The unirradiated 30/20 fuel rods shall have the following characteristics:
(a) the uranium content shall be a maximum of 30% by weight uranium, enriched to less than 20% 235U;
(b) the hydrogen to zirconium ratio (in the ZrHx) shall be a nominal 1.6 H atoms to 1.0 Zr atoms with a maximum H to Zr ratio of 1.65;
(c) the erbium content shall be homogeneously distributed with a nominal 0.90% by weight;
(d) the cladding shall be 304 stainless steel with a nominal thickness of 0.020 inches.
(2) The unirradiated standard fuel rods shall have the following characteristics:
(a) the uranium content shall be a maximum of 9.0% by weight enriched to less than 20% 235U;
(b) the hydrogen to zirconium atom ratio (in the ZrHx) shall be between 1.5 and 1.8;
(c) the cladding shall be 304 stainless steel with a nominal thickness of 0.020 inches.
5.3 Reactor Core
Specifications:
(1) The core shall be an arrangement of TRIGA uranium zirconium hydride fuel moderator assemblies positioned in the reactor grid plate.
(2) The TRIGA core may be composed of 30/20 fuel or a combination of standard and 30/20 fuel (mixed cores) provided that the 30/20 fuel region contains at least 51 30/20 fuel rods located in a contiguous block in the central region of the core.
(3) A reactor core fueled with a mixture of fuel types shall not be operated with a vacant core lattice position in the 30/20 fuel region. Water holes in the 30/20 fuel region shall be limited to single-rod holes. Lattice positions in the fueled region of the core that are not occupied by fuel assemblies, reflectors, or experiments shall be occupied by fixtures that will prevent the installation of a fuel assembly into a position not occupied by a fuel assembly, reflector or experiment.
(4) The reflector, excluding experiments and experimental facilities, shall be water or a combination of graphite, aluminum and water.
5.4 Control Rods
Specifications:
(1) Standard control rods shall have scram capability and contain borated graphite, B4C powder, boron or boron compounds in solid form within aluminum or stainless steel cladding.
(2) The regulating control rod does not have scram capability and shall be stainless steel.
(3) The transient control rod shall have scram capability and contain borated graphite or boron compounds in a solid form within aluminum or stainless steel. The transient rod shall have an adjustable upper limit to allow variation of reactivity insertions. The transient control rod does not incorporate a fueled follower.
5.5 Fuel Storage
Specifications:
(1) All fuel rods and fueled devices shall be stored in a geometrical array where the keff is less than 0.8 for all conditions of moderation and reflection.
(2) Irradiated fuel rods and fueled devices shall be stored in an array which will permit sufficient natural convective cooling by water or air, so that the fuel rod or fueled device temperature will not exceed design values.
5.6 radiation monitoring systems
Specifications:
(1) The area radiation monitors shall be sensitive to gamma radiation, shall monitor radiation fields in key locations, and shall alarm and readout at the reactor control console.
(2) The Continuous Air Monitor shall:
(a) be capable of particulate collection, and detection of beta and gamma radiation;
(b) monitor particulate radioactivity in the pool room air, alarm and readout at the reactor control console;
(c) be capable of causing the building ventilation system to switch from the normal mode into the dilution mode upon initiation of a high continuous air monitor alarm signal when the reactor is operating.
(3) The exhaust gas monitor shall be capable of detecting gamma radiation, and shall monitor 41Ar content in ventilation system exhaust air, and shall alarm and readout at the reactor control console.
5.7 Reactor Building and Ventilation System
Specifications:
(1) The reactor shall be housed in a facility designed to restrict leakage. The minimum free volume in the facility shall be at least 109 cm3.
(2) The reactor building shall be equipped with a ventilation system designed to filter and exhaust air or other gases from the reactor building and release them from a stack at a height of 46 ± 2 feet from the ground level in the front of the Dodgen Research Facility building.
(3) A set of controls for the ventilation system shall be located outside the reactor pool room and control room areas. The controls shall be capable of changing the ventilation system mode of operation into the dilute or isolate mode.
(4) The reactor pool room ventilation system shall have a dilution mode of operation with the following characteristics:
(a) air from the reactor pool room shall be mixed and diluted with outside air before being discharged from the facility when the ventilation system is operated in the dilution mode;
(b) the exhaust air from the reactor pool room shall pass through a filter before being discharged from the facility when the ventilation system is operated in the dilution mode.
5.8 Reactor Pool Water System
Specifications:
(1) The reactor core shall be cooled by natural convection water flow.
(2) All piping extending more than 5 feet below the surface of the pool shall have adequate provisions to prevent inadvertent siphoning of the pool.
(3) A pool level alarm shall be provided to indicate in the reactor control room and at a remote location of a loss of coolant if the pool level drops more than 8 inches below the normal level.
(4) The reactor primary coolant pool shall provide for at least 16 feet of water above the top of the core.
