CONCEPT AND BASIC PERFORMANCE OF AN IN-PILE EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR FOR FAST BREEDER-REACTORS USING FAST DRIVER CORE

The possibility of an in-pile experimental reactor for fast breeder re actors using a fast driver core is investigated. The driver core is co mposed of a particle bed with diluted fuel. The results of various bas ic analyses show that this reactor could perform as follows: (1) power peaking at the outer boundary of test core does not take place for la rge test core; (2) the radial power distribution in test fuel pin is e xpected to be the same as a real reactor; (3) the experiments with sho rt half width pulse is possible; (4) for the ordinary MOX core, enough heating-up is possible for core damage experiments; (5) the positive reactivity effects after power burst can be seen directly. These are d ifficult for conventional thermal in-pile experimental reactors in lar ge power excursion experiments. They are very attractive advantages in the in-pile experiments for fast breeder reactors. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.