Performance of UO₂ ceramic fuel in low-power research reactors

The Low Enriched Uranium UO₂ fuel performance in low-power research reactors is assessed in this paper. The usability of this fuel has been demonstrated in some research reactors in the world (SLOWPOKE-2). The fuel proved to be usable in the miniature neutron source low-power research reactors when about 50 fuel rods were substituted by as many dummy rods, while in SLOWPOKE reactors the number of fuel pins reduced by 98. About 3.8531 mk reactivity was rendered available at reactor start-up in MNSRs. The power of MNSRs needed to be increased by about 19%. Shut-down margin, effective shut-down margin, and control rod worth all decreased.