Safety aspects of pulsed YAYOI and Japan Linac Booster

The paper consists of two parts. The first part is concerned with safety aspects of pulsed YAYOI. Reactivity pulsed operation of YAYOI is performed with reactivity oscillating devices. Inherent safety characteristics due to dilation of metal fuel, a small amount of f.p. build up, reactor operation preserving fuel integrity and experience on transient experiments are the principal basis for safety assurance. Conditions for pulsed operation, namely, maximum allowable temperature, maximum number of repetition of pulsed operation and so on are derived from the consideration on the integrity of fuel. Instrumentation and control systems are reinforced by displacement meter in the core, interlock system, special timer for pulsed operation, additional scram conditions and reactivity meter. Accident analysis and safety evaluation indicate the conservative safety features of the facility. Concerning pulsed operation of YAYOI combined with Linac, special attention must be given to the design of Linac target placed in the core. In the second part are described the principal guide-lines and basic ideas for safety design of Japan Linac Booster (JLB). JLB is a U-Mo fueled and sodium cooled fast reactor with rotating reflector and Linac target in the core. The pulsed neutrons are injected into the core coincidentally with repetitive peaks of reactivity. Design of rotating reflector and Linac target system are the new and important safety problems not yet encountered in the usual sodium fast reactor design. The axis of the rotating reflector is horizontal, which avoids the collision of reflector block with core in the case of failure of rotating reflector. The separate cooling channels for target and the Linac electron beam control system are provided. Reactor shut down and power control systems must be carefully designed. Core meltdown and disassembly accident is considered as a hypothetical accident which is a basis for containment system design. (auth.)