Heat diffusion: a research on nuclear fuel element in TRIGA PUSPATI reactor at MINT

Reactor TRIGA PUSPATI ( RTP ) in Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (MINT) is the one and only research reactor in Malaysia and had been used exclusively for research and development ( R and D ), training for reactor operators and education purposes. Since its operation on 28 June 1982, the RTP had undergone various research and development activities based on nuclear technology which involved with various agencies, both government and private sectors from within and foreign country. This paper involves a study of nuclear fuel element rod in TRIGA PUSPATI Reactor in MINT which is the heat diffusion within the fuel rod in RTP. Using the numerical method approaches, i.e. the Method of Lines, the heat diffusion in the nuclear fuel rod occurs due to the increase of temperature during reactor operation will be studied. As a general, this paper will exhibit the results of partial differential equations after being discretized using the method of lines, then being solved by the explicit third order Runge-Kutta (RK3) method. Finally, an overall analysis of the result and its comparison from current existing method will also be exhibited in this paper. (Author)