Reactivity shimming in FFTF with safety rods

The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) reactor demonstrated operation at a 65% annual capacity factor in 1984 and a 70% annual capacity factor in 1985. This was achieved in part by extending the cycle lengths beyond the originally designed 100-day cycles. The advent of extended cycle lengths at the FFTF reactor led to the development of a contingency plan to shim some of the installed excess reactivity at the beginning of the cycle with the primary control rod bank (safety rods) in order to maintain the minimum required shutdown margin in the secondary shutdown system. This paper describes both the implementation of this plan in terms of the licensing aspects and the actual use of primary shim during cycles 5 and 6 operation at FFTF