Analysis of reactivity temperature coefficient for light water moderated HEU-UAl4 and LEU-UO2 lattices of MNSR

Abstract

Analysis of the Reactivity Temperature Coefficient (RTC) of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 using the reference HEU-UAl4 and then the LEU-UO2 fuel currently being developed under the RETR programme was carried out to determine the Fuel Temperature Coefficient (FTC) and Moderator Temperature Coefficient (MTC) using SCUBA, a locally developed FORTRAN 95 code. The contribution of each isotope present in the fuel cell to RTC was determined by analyzing the temperature effect on the thermal fission factor (η) and the thermal utilization factor (f). The average values of the core RTC for the temperature range of 15 °C to 140 °C at the beginning of life of the core were observed to be -0.70×10-4 and -2.061×10-4 for the HEU-UAl4 and the LEU-UO2 respectively. © 2010, INSInet Publication.