Abstract
During the past five years, staff at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have studied the issue of whether the HFIR could be converted to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel without degrading the performance of the reactor. Using state-of-the-art reactor physics methods and behind-the-state-of-the-art thermal hydraulics methods, the staff have developed fuel plate designs (HFIR uses two types of fuel plates) that are believed to meet physics and thermal hydraulic criteria provided the reactor power is increased from 85 to 100 MW. The paper will present a defense of the results by explaining the design and validation process. A discussion of the requirements for showing applicability of analyses to approval for loading the fuel to HFIR – lead test core irradiation currently scheduled for 2016 – will be provided. Finally, the potential benefits of upgrading thermal hydraulics methods will be discussed.
