Co and Cd ABSORBER ROD EXPERIMENTS in ZED-2
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!..* AECL-7514 ATOMIC ENERGY L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE OF CANADA LIMITED DU CANADA LIMITEE Co AND Cd ABSORBER ROD EXPERIMENTS IN ZED-2 Experiences faites dans I'installation ZED-2 avec des barres de commande absorbant Co et Cd G.M. ARBIQUE Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories Laboratoires micle'aires de Chalk River Chalk River, Ontario February 1982 ttvrier ATOMIC ENERGY OF CANADA LIMITED Co AND Cd ABSORBER ROD EXPERIMENTS IN ZED-2 by G.M. Arbique Reactor Physics Branch Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories Chalk River, Ontario, KOJ 1JO 1982 February AECL-7514 L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE DU CANADA, LIMITEE Expériences faites dans l'installation ZED-2 avec des barres de commande absorbant Co et Cd par G.M. Arbique Résume Des expériences ont été effectuées dans l'instal- lation critique ZED-2 pour évaluer le taux de réactivitê des barres de commande du réacteur NRU absorbant les neutrons de cobalt et de cadmium. L'objectif des mesures était d'obtenir des données utiles pour valider les codes de physique du réacteur NRU. En employant une barre de commande absorbant Co et Cd dans un réseau de ZEEP, on a mesuré: Ca) le taux de réactivité de cette barre de commande, (b) les flux relatifs aux abords de la barre de commande et dans l'ensemble du réseau, (c) les valeurs r/T/Tç de Westcott pour obtenir quelques informations relatives au spectre des neutrons. Département de physique des réacteurs Laboratoires nucléaires de Chalk River Chalk River, Ontario KOJ 1J0 Février 1982 AECL-7514 ATOMIC ENERGY OF CANADA LIMITED Co AND Cd ABSORBER ROD EXPERIMENTS IN ZED-2 by G.I!. Arblque ABSTRACT Experiments have been performed In the ZED-2 critical facility to evaluate reactivity worths of NRU cobalt and cadmium absorber rods. The object of the measurements was to provide data useful in validating NRU reactor physics codes. Using a Cd or Co absorber rod in a ZEEP rod lattice, measurements were made of: (a) absorber rod reactivity worths, t (b) relative fluxes in the vicinity of the absorber rod and throughout the lattice, (c) Westcott r /T/To values, to obtain some neutron spectrum information. Reactor Physics Branch Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories Chalk River, Ontario KOJ 1J0 1982 February AECL-7514 Co AND Cd ABSORBER ROD EXPERIMENTS IN ZED-2 by G.M. Arbique TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. DESCRIPTION OF FUEL LATTICE AND ABSORBER RODS 1 2.1 Lattice Configuration 1 2.2 Cobalt Rod 1 2.3 Cadmium Rod 2 3. CRITICAL HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS 2 3.1 Measurements 2 3.2 Results 2 4. FLUX MEASUREMENTS 3 4.1 Determination of Relative Neutron Flux 3 4.2) Activation Detectors 3 4.3 Determination of Detector Activities 3 4.4 Experiments 4 4.5 Flux Measurement Results 5 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 6. REFERENCES 7 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Critical Height Data 9 Table 2: Pertinent Data From the Macroscopic Flux Measurements 10 Table 3: Normalized Thimble Copper Activities for Experiment G2E 11 Table 4: Normalized Thimble Copper Activities for Experiment G2A (Co rod) .......12 Table 5: Normalized Thimble Copper Activities for Experiment G2B (Cd rod) 13 Table 6: Normalized Thimble Copper Activities for Experiment G2C (Cd rod) 14 Table 7: Normalized Thimble Copper Activities for Experiment G2D (Cd rod) 15 Table 8: Relative Cu Activities for Cd Absorber Rod off Centre 5 mm North (G2B Type Core) 16 Table 9: Fitted Axial Distribution Parameters ....17 Table 10: Normalized Wire Activities for Experiment G2A (Co rod) 18 Table 11: Normalized Wire Activities for Experiment G2B (Cd rod) 19 Table 12: Normalized Wire Activities for Experiment G2C (Cd rod) 20 Table 13: Normalized Wire Activities for Experiment G2D (Cd rod) 21 Table 14: Band Segment Activities ...22 Table 15: r /YpFo Values .• 23 Table 16: In Activations and Cd Ratios Used for r /T/To Determinations 24 Table 17: Parameters Used in r / T/To Calculations 25 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: ZEEP Rod Reference Lattice 26 Figure 2: Section of Cobalt Absorber Rod 27 Figure 3: Cobalt Absorber in ZED-2 28 Figure 4: Diagrams of Cd Absorber Rod 29 Figure 5: Lattice Used for Flux Measurements 30 Figure 6: Wire Placement About Cd Rod 31 Figure 7: Wire Placement About Co Rod 31 Figure 8: Cu Band Placement 32 Figure 9: Wire Activities for G2A 33 Figure 10: Wire Activities for G2B 34 Figure 11: Band Segment Activities for G2E 35 Figure 12;: Band Segment Activities for G2A > 36 Figure 13: Band Segment Activities for G2B 3/ Cd AND Co ABSORBER ROD EXPERIMENTS IN ZED-2 by G.M. Arbique 1. INTRODUCTION This report describes Cd and Co absorber rod experiments performed in the ?ED-2 critical facility^1', in support of the validation of NRU reactor' ' physics codes. The following studies were made in ZEEP rod lattices containing a Co or Cd absorber rod in the central lattice position: - reactivity effects (as measured by critical height changes) associated with the absorber rods, - mapping of relative neutron fluxes, by Cu activation detectors, throughout the lattice and in the vicinity of the absorber rods, - measurement of Westcott r /T/To values throughout the lattice, in order to obtain some neutron spectrum information. 2. DESCRIPTION OF FUEL LATTICE AND ABSORBER RODS 2.1 Lattice Configuration The reference lattice used in these studies is illustrated in Figure 1. It consisted of 73 ZEEP rods, heavy water moderated, in a hexagonal array at a 19.685 cm (NRU) pitch. ZEEP rods are natural uranium metal cylinders (3.25 cm diameter, 15 cm long) stacked within a 2S aluminum alloy tube of 1 mm wall thickness. The fuel length in the rods is 285 cm and when suspended in ZED-2 the lowest edge of the fuel was 15 cm above the calandria floor. Whenever the Co or Cd absorber rod was present in the core it replaced the central ZEEP rod. 2.2 Cobalt Rod The Co absorber rod was a MKII HIGH DENSITY COBALT CONTROL ROD, borrowed from NRU. The rod consisted of aluminum wafers, containing square pockets of cobalt pellets, sandwiched between two concentric 57S aluminum tubes (see Figure 2). Each wafer was 10.16 cm x 9.04 cm, and contained 14.0 g of nickel-plated Co pellets (1 mm long x 1 mm diameter) in 49 separate pockets (7 on a wafer side). Wafers were sandwiched between -2- the inner (I.D. 8.10 cm, 0.0. 8.57 cm) and outer (I.D. 8.89 cm, O.D. 9.37 en) tubes in three 24 wafer columns. The rod had openings at the top and bottom to allow the D2O moderator to occupy the inside of the assembly. When the Co absorber rod was suspended in ZED-2, the lower edge of the bottom-most wafer was 15 cm above the calandria floor (see Figure 3). 2.3 Cadmium Rod The Cd absorber rod employed in the experiments was a mock-up of an NRU "20% Cd" ABSORBER ROD . The mock-up rod consisted of 4 columns of Cd strips (8 strips per column) attached by screws at 90° intervals on the surface of an aluminum alloy tube (I.D. 82.5 mm, 2.67 am wall) (see Figure 4). Each Cd strip measured 295.3 mm long, 15.5 mm wide, and 1.57 mm thick. The rod also had openings at the top and bottom to allow heavy water moderator to fill the tube. The Cd absorber rod was suspended in ZED-2 with the lower edges of the bottom-most Cd strips at 15 cm above the calandria floor (see Figure 4). 3. CRITICAL HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS 3.1 Measurements Critical D2O height measurements were made with both Co and Cd absorber rods. The measurements determined critical height changes associated with placing either the Cd or the Co absorber rod in the central site, KO (see Figure 1), of the reference core with varying nearest neighbour ZEEF rod environments. Descriptions of the experiments are contained in Table 1 (refer to Figure 1 for rod locations). 3.2 Results Data collected in the critical height measurements may be found in Table 1. The table also contains critical height changes, AH, with respect to reference core critical heights. The variation of reference core critical height with time of measurement was obtained from linear interpolations of reference core critical height measurements made at the beginning and end of each day. The uncertainty in AH is estimated to be +0.06 cm. From the critical height changes listed in Table 1, it is clear that the Cd rod has the larger reactivity worth. -3- A. FLUX MEASUREMENTS A.I Determination of Relative Neutron Flux To determine relative thermal neutron fluxes throughout the experimental lattices Cu activation detectors were placed at various locations. After irradiation the gamma activity of Cu6^ (half life » 12.9 h) was measured for each detector. Spectrum information at various locations throughout the lattices was obtained by determining Westcott r /T/To values. An r may be evaluated at a location by comparing a Cu*>4 and ^ (half life - 5A.3 min) activation ratio to the same ratio obtained at a reference location, where r /T/To has also been obtained from a Cd ratio measurement. A full description of this method may be found in references (3), (A) and (5). A.2 Activation Detectors The following activation detectors were used throughout the experiments: (a) Cu foils (11.3 mm diameter, 0.25 mm thick) were used for macroscopic flux and r /T/To measurements. These foils were held in thin- walled Al thimbles which were suspended in the core in the same manner as the ZEEP fuel rods.