Neutronic Benchmarks for the Utilization of Mixed-Oxide Fuel: Joint U.S./Russian Progress Report for Fiscal Year 1997 - Volume 4, Part 2--Saxton Plutonium Program Critical Experiments

Critical experiments with water-moderated, single-region PuO2-UO2 or UO2, and multiple-region PuO2-UO2- and UO2-fueled cores were performed at the CRX reactor critical facility at the Westinghouse Reactor Evaluation Center (WREC) at Waltz Mill, Pennsylvania in 1965 [1]. These critical experiments were part of the Saxton Plutonium Program. The mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in these critical experiments and then loaded in the Saxton reactor contained 6.6 wt% PuO2 in a mixture of PuO2 and natural UO2. The Pu metal had the following isotopic mass percentages: 90.50% 239Pu; 8.57% 239Pu; 0.89% 240Pu; and 0.04% 241Pu. The purpose of these critical experiments was to verify the nuclear design of Saxton partial plutonium cores while obtaining parameters of fundamental significance such as buckling, control rod worth, soluble poison worth, flux, power peaking, relative pin power, and power sharing factors of MOX and UO2 lattices. For comparison purposes, the core was also loaded with uranium dioxide fuel rods only. This series is covered by experiments beginning with the designation SX