Water velocity determination in the gaps of irt-3M, -4M fuel assemblies

Experiments on measuring the water velocity in the gaps between the fuel elements of an IRT-3M eight-tube fuel assembly with 90% fuel enrichment, used in pool and tank research reactors, are described. The experiments were performed on a hydraulic facility at the National Research Center Kurchatov I...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atomic energy (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2011-10, Vol.110 (6), p.389-394
Main Authors: Nasonov, V. A., Ryazantsev, E. P., Taliev, A. V., Yashin, A. F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assemblies
Computational fluid dynamics
Electrons
Enrichment
Experiments
Flow rates
Fluid flow
Fuels
Gaps
Hadrons
Heavy Ions
Hydraulic measurements
Hydraulics
Mathematical models
Nuclear Chemistry
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear engineering
Nuclear fuels
Nuclear Physics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Plutonium
Studies
Uranium
Velocity
Water
Water flow
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Summary:Experiments on measuring the water velocity in the gaps between the fuel elements of an IRT-3M eight-tube fuel assembly with 90% fuel enrichment, used in pool and tank research reactors, are described. The experiments were performed on a hydraulic facility at the National Research Center Kurchatov Institute. The velocity was determined from the dynamic head in the gaps of a model fuel assembly. These velocities were used as a basis for determining the water flow rate in each gap and the total flow rate through a fuel assembly. Comparative hydraulic calculations of IRT-3M fuel assemblies with 90% fuel enrichment and IRT-4M fuel assemblies with 19.7% enrichment, developed as a replacement for IRT-3M, are described. It is shown that if the IRT-4M gaps decrease to 1.85 mm, then the water velocity in them will decrease by only 5% as compared with IRT-3M.
ISSN:1063-4258
1573-8205
DOI:10.1007/s10512-011-9439-8