Mini Subcritical Nuclear Reactor

Hector Rene  Vega-Carrillo; V. P.  Singh; Claudia Rafela  Escobedo-Galvan; Diego Medina  Castro; Arturo Agustin Ortiz  Hernandez; Teodoro  Rivera-Montalvo; Segundo Agustin  Martinez-Ovalle

doi:10.15415/jnp.2019.62026

Authors

Hector Rene Vega-Carrillo Academic Unit of Nuclear Studies of the University Autonomous of Zacatecas C. Cipres 10, Fracc. La Peñuela, Zacatecas, Zac. Mexico
V. P. Singh Karanatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India
Claudia Rafela Escobedo-Galvan Center of Scientific and Technological Studies No 18, Blvd. del Bote s/n. Cerro del Gato, Ejido la Escondida. 98160 Zacatecas, Zac. Mexico.
Diego Medina Castro Academic Unit of Nuclear Studies of the University Autonomous of Zacatecas C. Cipres 10, Fracc. La Peñuela, Zacatecas, Zac. Mexico.
Arturo Agustin Ortiz Hernandez Polytechnic University of Zacatecas, Plan de Pardillo s/n. Zona Industrial. Fresnillo, Zac. Mexico
Teodoro Rivera-Montalvo Research Center in Applied Science and Advanced Technology-IPN Legaria unit, Av. Legaria 694, Col. Irrigación. 11500 Ciudad de Mexico. Mexico.
Segundo Agustin Martinez-Ovalle Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, Tunja, Colombia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15415/jnp.2019.62026

Keywords:

Subcritical nuclear reactor, Nuclear Chicago, Monte Carlo, Neutron spectrum, keff.

Abstract

A mini subcritical nuclear reactor was designed using Monte Carlo methods. The reactor has light water as moderator, natural uranium as fuel, and a²³⁹PuBe 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 k_eff (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.

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