Benchmark Evaluation of the NRAD Reactor LEU Core Startup Measurements

The Neutron Radiography (NRAD) reactor is a 250-kW TRIGA-(Training, Research, Isotope Production, General Atomics)-conversion-type reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory; it is primarily used for neutron radiography analysis of irradiated and unirradiated fuels and materials. The NRAD reactor was converted from HEU to LEU fuel with 60 fuel elements and brought critical on March 31, 2010. This configuration of the NRAD reactor has been evaluated as an acceptable benchmark experiment and is available in the 2011 editions of the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (ICSBEP Handbook) and the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments (IRPhEP Handbook). Significant effort went into precisely characterizing all aspects of the reactor core dimensions and material properties; detailed analyses of reactor parameters minimized experimental uncertainties. The largest contributors to the total benchmark uncertainty were the 234U, 236U, Er, and Hf content in the fuel; the manganese content in the stainless steel cladding; and the unknown level of water saturation in the graphite reflector blocks. A simplified benchmark model of the NRAD reactor was prepared with a keff of 1.0012 ± 0.0029 (1s). Monte Carlo calculations with MCNP5 and KENO-VI and various neutron cross section libraries were performed and compared with the benchmark eigenvalue for the 60-fuel-element core configuration; all calculated eigenvalues are between 0.3 and 0.8% greater than the benchmark value. Benchmark evaluations of the NRAD reactor are beneficial in understanding biases and uncertainties affecting criticality safety analyses of storage, handling, or transportation applications with LEU-Er-Zr-H fuel.