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Sudan Academy of Sciences Atomic Energy Council ^ rr* /■ i A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Nuclear Science By Hisham Mirghani Dirar B.Sc. University of Khartoum. 1999 Supervisor Prof. Adam Sam June 2012 Sudan Academy of Sciences Atomic Energy Research Council Examination Committee h n \ i i Title Name Signature i A s 1 4 V ■■ , \ r i External Examiner Dr.Siddig Abdalla Talha 1 j - ! , i i S 1 i Supervisor Prof.Adam Khatir Sam . S- • T i 1 -1 Date of Examination: 27lh September, 2012 Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my family, fo r their constant support \ S and unconditional >!• * i love. I Acknowledgem ents First of all I would like to thank God for the grace strength provided to me for completing this thesis. I take immense pleasure in thanking P r o f . A d a m S a m from Sudan Atomic Energy Commission (SAEC), who has chosen the topic, for having permitted me to perform my master’s thesis. P r o f . S a m is a good advisor and one of the smartest people I know. I am also very grateful to D r.Farouk H abbani from The Department of Physics in University of Khartoum for his scientific advice and knowledge and many insightful discussions and suggestions. Also, a special thanks to M r . R a n i O s a m a from (SAEC) for his valuable information. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to my family, especially my parents, for their support, encouragement and advice during my studies and during the realization of this thesis. II ABSTRACT The primary objective of this thesis is to conduct a comprehensive up-to-date literature review on the current status of safety of research reactors both in design and operation and providing the future trends in safety of research reactors. Data and technical information of variety selected historical research reactors were thoroughly reviewed and evaluated, furthermore illustrations of the material of fuel, control rods, shielding, moderators and coolants used were discussed. Insight study of some historical research reactors was carried with considering sample cases such as Chicago Pile — 1, F-l reactor, Chalk River Laboratories, The National Research Experimental Reactor and others. The current status of research reactors and their geographical distribution, reactor category and utilization is also covered. Examples of some recent advanced reactors were studied like safety barriers of HANARO of Korea including safety doors of the hall and building entrance and finger print identification which prevent the reactor from sabotage. On the basis of the results of this research, it is apparent that a high quality of safety of nuclear reactors can be attained by achieving enough robust constructions, designing components of high levels of efficiency, replacing the components of the reactor in order to avoid corrosion and degradation with age, coupled with experienced scientists and technical staffs to operate nuclear research facilities. Ill A , *• ** «3 # « <_£a! a_1_aI£Xa a u - r£*-J -X3U ^A <_L-ill I A^J :l^Vl A jl y^i n<o\l djl^JX^ylli ^a_*_) ^LJjdajJj (J-tiuujlllj i“ i ^ />-* A-.iW ill A_)jjjJl L j LLal I 1 " d 1 1 £ Aoj.iLall A j ^ j j IaII 4ju -ill di^loLLcJl ^^rxx-ii A-LLJall L_jL g jL l a II j Cj LjLi i II ^ j Ljd^)C. aA_a .W .uhaII Aj^-i_iil £—J^jAJill ^jl_Lu<2i3 ^ jjj ..ji JoAiiLAaV Li £ 1 - c_il £ ^ - (J^LijC. 1 Li (JlLa A..A/^yi ^j Jo xj ^ A-a-a*jui 4^1 jA AAj ^= J ^.ic. 4_LaLi 4,-llru i £.*. \a \ L lJsljI _ 4— ^ ^'■v. ill ^g_A^jk]| ^Jc. 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Ill L u iiliJ l.............................................................................................................................................................. I V Table of contents..................................................................................... V List of Tables......................................................................................... VIII List of figures........................................................................................... IX Abbreviations........................................................................................... X Chapter One I n tr o d u c tio n ..............................................................................1 1.1 Background............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Reactors versus Power Reactors............................................ 1 1.3 Major components of Nuclear Reactors................................................ 2 1.3.1 Fuel Elements .......................................................................................... 2 1.3.2 Moderator..................................................................................................2 1.3.3 Coolant...................................................................................................... 3 1.3.4 Control R ods............................................................................................3 1.3.5 Reflector...................................................................................................... 4 V 3.2.1 OSIRIS Research Reactor 35 3.3 South African Research Reactors...................................................... 37 3.3.1 SAFARI-1 .....................................................................................37 3.4 Egyptian models.................................................................................. 38 3.4.1 Egypt First Research Reactor (ETRR-1)......................................39 3.4.2 Egypt second Research Reactor (ETRR-2)................................. 41 3.5 The Korean Research Reactor (HANARO)...... 42 3.5.1 Safety B arriers.................................................. .42 3.6 Research Reactors: Cases under study................ 44 3.6.1 System modifications: ETRR-1 research reactor 44 3.6.2 HANARO Reactor and the radiation leak....... 44 Chapter Four Future Trends in Research Reactor Safety ............ 46 4.1 Introduction......................................................................................... 46 4.2 Research reactors under construction............................................... 48 4.2.1 FRM-II ...................................................................................48 4.2.2 China Advanced Research Reactor (CARR)....................50 4.3 Future of Research Reactors............................................................51 4.4 Strategy for future............................................................................. 52 Chapter Five Conclusion and Recommendations......................... 53 References..................................................................................... 57 VII List of Tables List Page Table (1): Technical data of F-l Research Reactor........................................ 15 Table (2): Technical Data of NRX Research Reactor.....................................19 Table (3): Technical Data of NRU Research Reactor.................................... 22 Table (4): Technical Data of ATR Research Reactor.................................... 24 Table (5): Levels of Defence in Depth..............................................................28 Table (6): Operational Research Reactor Data as of December 2 0 1 0 ....... 31 Table (7): RRDB: Applications o f -240 operational RRs today................ 33 VIII List of Figures List Page Fig. (1): The Basic components o f a Research Reactor.......................................5 Fig. (2) Neutron behavior inside the co re...............................................................8 Fig. (3): The relation between physical barriers and levels of protection in defence in depth...........................................................................................................27 Fig. (4): The Global Distribution o f Nuclear Reactors........................................32 Fig. (5) Number of reactors and years in operation........................................... 34 Fig. (6): SAFARI-1 core layout..............................................................................40 Fig. (7): Conceptual Design o f FRM-IT 49 Abbreviations CP-l: Chicago Pile-1 PWR: pressurized-water reactors CANDU: Canada Deuterium Uranium MTR: Material Testing Reactor TRIGA: Training, Research, Isotope, General Atomics HEU: Highly Enriched Uranium LEU: Low Enriched Uranium NAA: Neutron Activation Analysis NTD: Neutron Transmutation Doping CRL: Chalk River Laboratories NRX: National Research Experimental NRU: The National Research Universal Reactor AECL: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited AECB: Atomic Energy