Steady-state Operational Characteristics of Ghana Research Reactor-1

Abstract

Steady state operational characteristics of the 30 kW tank-in-pool type reactor named Ghana Research Reactor-1 were investigated after a successful on-site zero power critical experiments. The steadystate operational character-istics determined were the thermal neutron fluxes, maximum period of operation at nominal power and calibration curve for the central control rod. Using the gold-foil activation method, thermal fluxes of 5.0 x 1010, 5.0 x 1011 and 1.0 x 1012 ncm-2s-1 corresponding to the power levels of 1.5, 15 and 30 kW respectively were measured and the values used to calibrate the flux monitoring meter on the control console and to adjust the amplification factor for the micro-computer control system. The calibration factor of 1.09 for the control console and the amplification factor of 1.61 for the micro-computer control system were used to obtain a perfect agreement with the measured fluxes on the two independent systems. At the nominal power, the reactor operated continuously for 6.5 hours before the control rod attained its uppermost level of 230 mm. The integral calibration curve obtained theoretically followed a similar trend with measured values and the computed control rod worth of 7.1 x 10-3 Dk/k compared favourably with the measured value of 7.0 x 10-3 Dk/k.

Journal of Applied Science and Technology (JAST), Vol. 4, Nos. 1 & 2, 1999, pp. 15 – 23