Neutronics and steady-state thermal hydraulics analysis for the HEU, mixed HEU-LEU and the first full LEU cores of WWR-SM reactor at INP AS RUZ

The WWR-SM reactor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences (INP AS) in Uzbekistan is preparing for the conversion from HEU (36%) fuel to LEU (19.8%) fuel. During this conversion, the HEU fuel assemblies (IRT-3M FA) being discharged at the end of each cycle will be replaced by LEU fuel assemblies (IRT-4M FA); this gradual conversion requires 9 cycles. Conversion to LEU without loss of performance for the present experimental program requires the size of the core to increase from 18 to 20 fuel assemblies and the power of the reactor to increase from 10 to 11 MW. The safety analysis report for this conversion process has been prepared. This paper presents the methods and results for the neutronics analysis (burnup, power distributions and shutdown margin), the steady-state thermal hydraulics analysis and the kinetics parameters for the HEU, all mixed and the first full LEU cores. (author)