Poisoning

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 1

Dababneh).
 Poisoning

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 2

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
• Not anticipated! Reactor shut down! Time scale:
135Xe 149Sm Hours and days.
6 105 b
10 b  Xem

a

I  Xe

 aI   aXe
Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 3
Dababneh).
 Poisoning
HW 28 Reactivity    k  1 , let us use k (Infinite reactor).
k
 afuel
f1  fuel (critical)
 a   clad
a   mod erator
a

 afuel
f 2  fuel
 a   clad
a   mod erator
a   poison
a

 apoison
Show that    2  1   fuel
 a   clad
a   mod erator
a

Negative reactivity due to poison buildup. It is

proportional to the amount of poison.
Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 4
Dababneh).
 Poisoning
 small
I (r , t )    
  I  f  (r , t )  I I (r , t )   aI I (r , t ) (r , t )
t

Xe(r , t )     
  Xe  f  (r , t )  I I (r , t )   Xe Xe(r , t )   a Xe(r , t ) (r , t )
Xe

t
Initial conditions?
• Clean Core Startup. Assume no spacial
• Shutdown (later). dependence.

I (0)  Xe(0)  0 Fresh Fuel.

and let us assume  (t )   (0)  constant.

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 5

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
 I  f 0  t
HW 29 Show that: I (t )  (1  e ) I

I
I ( )
Xe()

( I   Xe )  f 0  (  Xe  aXe0 ) t
and Xe(t )  (1  e )
 Xe    Xe
a 0

 I  f 0 (  Xe  a 0 ) t
Xe
 I t
 (e e )
 Xe  I   a 0
Xe

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 6

Dababneh).
 Poisoning

I ( )
Xe()

• Now, we know Xe(t)

 apoison(t )  aXe Xe(t )
   fuel   fuel
a  a  a
clad mod erator
 a   clad
a   mod erator
a

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 7

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
• Shutdown. After the reactor has been operating for a “long” time.

I (r , t )    
  I  f  (r , t )  I I (r , t )   aI I (r , t ) (r , t )
t

Xe(r , t )     
  Xe  f  (r , t )  I I (r , t )   Xe Xe(r , t )   a Xe(r , t ) (r , t )
Xe

t


I ( 0)  I (  ) I (r , t ) 
 I I ( r , t )
Xe(0)  Xe() t

 (t )   (0)  0. Xe(r , t )  
 I I (r , t )   Xe Xe(r , t )
t

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 8

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
 I t
HW 30 Show that I (t )  I (  ) e
  Xe t  I I ( )   t   t
Xe(t )  Xe()e  (eXe
e ) I

I   Xe

>0?
Height of the peak
depends on I()
and Xe(), i.e.
depends on .

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 9

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
Shutdown  Xe   negative   move control rods
out  try to add positive reactivity  need to have
enough reserve  costly to do that.
If, the available excess
reactivity can
compensate for less
than 30 minutes of
poison buildup, can’t
startup again after ~30
minutes of shutdown,
because you can’t
achieve criticality. Need
to wait some 40 hours
(in this case) for Xe to
Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed
decay down. 10
Dababneh).
 Poisoning

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 11

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
Strategies
• If you plan to shut down for “short maintenance”, think
about stepback.
• Examine different scenarios using this code from
http://www.nuceng.ca/
• Prepare your own report, code, calculations, graphs,
comments, conclusions etc…..
• Be creative and use whatever experience you gained
during your study in this program.

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 12

Dababneh).
 Poisoning
Xe Oscillations
• (r,t) (spacial dependence)  flux  locally  Xe
burnup    (reactivity)   flux further   control
rods globally in  flux  elsewhere  Xe burnup  
  ….. Xe oscillation but limited by opposite effect due
to increase (decrease) of I in the high (low) flux region.
• In large reactors (compared to neutron diffusion
length) local flux, power and temperature could reach
unacceptable values for certain materials  safety
issues.
• Think of one sensor and one control rod  feel
average flux  apparently OK  more sensors and
control rods to locate and deal with local changes.
Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 13
Dababneh).
 Poisoning
Permanent Poisons
• 149Sm has sizeable but lower cross section than 135Xe.
• It does not decay.

Sm(r , t )    
  Sm  f (r , t ) (r , t )   Sm  f (r ,0) (r ,0)   Sm . Constant
t
• Start from fresh fuel:
  
Sm(r , t )   Sm  f (r ,0) (r ,0)t   Sm . Constant . t Linear wit h time.

• Thus:
  
 (r , t )   a  Sm  f (r ,0) (r ,0)t Linear wit h time.
Sm
a
Sm

Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 14

Dababneh).
Nuclear Reactors, BAU, 1st Semester, 2007-2008 (Saed 15
Dababneh).