Abstract
Many advanced reactor concept designs rely on high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, enriched up to approximately 19.75% 235U by weight. Efforts are underway by the US government to increase HALEU production in the United States to meet anticipated needs. However, very few data exist for validation of computational models that include HALEU, beyond a few fresh fuel benchmark specifications in the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project. Nevertheless, there are other data with potential value available for developing into quality benchmarks for use in data- and software-validation efforts. This paper reviews the available evaluated HALEU fuel benchmarks and some of the potentially relevant benchmarks for fresh highly enriched uranium. It then introduces experimental data for HALEU fuel irradiated at Idaho National Laboratory, from relatively recent irradiation programs at the Advanced Test Reactor. Such data should be evaluated and, if valuable, collected into detailed benchmark specifications to meet the needs of HALEU-based reactor designers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 602-624 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Engineering |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2023 |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| U.S. Government |
Keywords
- advanced reactors
- DOE
- HALEU
- high-assay LEU
- NRC
- validation