Measurements of the Fast Fission Factor (ε) in UO2-Elements

These experiments were undertaken in order to check the ε - calculations for the R3/Adam reactor project and to obtain a more rigorous basis for calculations on fuel elements similar to the R3/Adam clusters. Different number of rods (19, 7, 1) and coolants (air, D2O, H2O) have been investigated. The measurements were performed in the central channel of the R1 research reactor making it possible also to study the influence due to adjacent R1 fuel rods. The method used (an activation technique) gives directly the relationship R between the fission rates in 238U and 235U . Knowing this quantity it is possible to compute ε. However, since ε is dependent on how it is defined, it is more convenient to use R in a comparison with calculated values. Calculations for some of the cases studied experimentally have been made according to a new heterogeneous method. The agreement between the calculated and measured R-values is relatively good, but there is a tendency for the latter to be somewhat higher, especially for the 19-rod element