Abstract
The mission of the Neutron Sciences Directorate (NScD) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the undertaking of high-impact research into the structure and properties of materials across the spectrum of biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering. NScD operates two world-leading neutron scattering facilities: the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the Spallation Neutron Source. HFIR achieved full power in 1966, and over a half century later, it continues to serve a variety of national missions. HFIR provides one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world to support scientific missions including cold and thermal neutron scattering, isotope production, and materials irradiation research. To sustain leadership in neutron sciences into the future, ORNL is exploring areas in which HFIR can be improved to enhance its performance. Many improvement areas are being explored including upgrading the cold source and neutron scattering facilities. The improvement areas discussed herein include replacing the reactor pressure vessel, upgrading the neutron reflector, and ensuring that reactor performance is maintained or enhanced after converting from high-enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium fuel.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | International Conference on Physics of Reactors |
| Subtitle of host publication | Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 |
| Editors | Marat Margulis, Partrick Blaise |
| Publisher | EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences |
| Pages | 1694-1701 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781713827245 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2020 |
| Event | 2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 - Cambridge, United Kingdom Duration: Mar 28 2020 → Apr 2 2020 |
Publication series
| Name | International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 |
|---|---|
| Volume | 2020-March |
Conference
| Conference | 2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Cambridge |
| Period | 03/28/20 → 04/2/20 |
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Infrastructure Programs for the permanent beryllium reflector redesign studies and the support of the U.S. DOE NNSA Office of M3 for the LEU conversion studies. The authors would like to thank and acknowledge K. E. Royston and F. X. Gallmeier of ORNL for their advice on the beam tube flux methods employed in this paper and C. D. Bryan of ORNL for his technical review of this paper. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Infrastructure Programs for the permanent beryllium reflector redesign studies and the support of the U.S. DOE NNSA Office of M3 for the LEU conversion studies. The authors would like to thank and acknowledge K. E. Royston and F. X. Gallmeier of ORNL for their advice on the beam tube flux methods employed in this paper and C. D. Bryan of ORNL for his technical review of this paper.
Keywords
- HFIR
- LEU
- Neutron science
- Pressure vessel
- Reflector
- Research reactor