ENCIT Brazilian congress of thermal sciences and engineering, 13

Abstract

The standard operations of nuclear research reactor IPR-R1 TRIGA located at CDTN (Belo Horizonte) usually have duration of not more than 8h. However in 2009 two operations for samples irradiations lasted about 12 hours each at a power of 100 kW. These long lasting operations started in the evening and most of them were carried out at night, when there are only small fluctuations in atmosphere temperature. Therefore the conditions were ideal for evaluating the thermal balance of the power dissipated by the reactor core through the forced cooling system. Heat balance is the standard methodology for power calibration of the IPR-R1 reactor. As in any reactor operation, the main operating parameters were monitored and stored by the Data Acquisition System (DAS) developed for the reactor. These data have been used for the analysis and calculation of the evolution of several neutronic and thermalhydraulic parameters involved in the reactor operation. This paper analyzes the two long lasting operations of the IPR-R1 TRIGA and compares the recorded results for the power dissipated through the primary cooling loop with the results of the power calibration conducted in March 2009. The results corresponded to those of the thermal power calibration within the uncertainty of this methodology, indicating system stability over a period of six months.