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Possibility of identifying the fuel elements and fuel assemblies of first-generation USA and USSR research reactors

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Atomic Energy Aims and scope

The possibilities of identifying the fuel elements and fuel assemblies from the cores of first-generation research reactors in the USSR (F1, TVR, RFT, IGR, SM-2, and IVG.1) and USA (CR-1, X-10, BGRR, EBR I, MTR, ARE, and TREAT) are examined. The fuel elements and assemblies are described and the cross section and characteristic dimensions are presented. It is shown that the fuel elements and fuel assemblies are different and that in order to identify them in most cases only the geometric dimensions need by examined and measured. However, if a reactor fuel element or assembly is completely destroyed, then the uranium enrichment and isotopic composition as well as the impurity composition must be measured.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Russian Federal Nuclear Center – Zababakhin All-Russia Research Institute of Technical Physics (RFYaTs – VNIITF), Snezhinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia

    N. V. Gorin, Yu. I. Churikov, A. A. Korneev & N. P. Voloshin

  2. Rosatom State Corporation, Moscow, Russia

    N. V. Arkhangelskiy & V. I. Prostakov

  3. National Research Center – Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia

    V. S. Dikarev, V. A. Pavshook & S. S. Abalin

  4. State Science Center of the Russian Federation – Alikhanov Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (GNTs RF – ITEF), Moscow, Russia

    O. V. Shvedov

  5. Institute of Atomic Energy, National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kurchatov, Russia

    I. I. Deryavko & A. N. Kolbaenkov

Authors
  1. N. V. Gorin
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  2. Yu. I. Churikov
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  3. A. A. Korneev
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  4. N. P. Voloshin
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  5. N. V. Arkhangelskiy
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  6. V. I. Prostakov
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  7. V. S. Dikarev
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  8. V. A. Pavshook
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  9. S. S. Abalin
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  10. O. V. Shvedov
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  11. I. I. Deryavko
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  12. A. N. Kolbaenkov
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Additional information

Translated from Atomnaya Energiya, Vol. 113, No. 4, pp. 218–222, October, 2012.

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Gorin, N.V., Churikov, Y.I., Korneev, A.A. et al. Possibility of identifying the fuel elements and fuel assemblies of first-generation USA and USSR research reactors. At Energy 113, 271–275 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-013-9629-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-013-9629-7

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