Measurement of coolant flow in fuel elements at the JRR-4 silicide fuel core

Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi ; Watanabe, Shukichi; Nagatomi, Hideki; Kaminaga, Masanori  ; Funayama, Yoshiro

JRR-4, a swimming-pool type research reactor with a thermal power of 3.5MW, attained criticality in July 1998, after replacing its 90% enrichment fuel with a 20% enrichment fuel under the Reduced Enrichment Program. As a part of the program, safety analysis on thermo-hydraulics of the reactor core was conducted on cases including single channel blockage accident. With the conclusion that a certain margin on thermo-hydraulics was necessary, investigation and experiments were carried out with an aim to increase the core flow rate. To increase the core flow, it was carried out to reduce the bypass flow in the core and to increase the primary coolant flow rate from 7m/min to 8m/min. After flow measurements using a mock-up fuel element, flow velocity of the fuel channel was determined as 1.45m/s as opposed to the designed value of 1.44m/s, and the ratio of core flow to total flow was 0.88, exceeding the value 0.86 used for the safety analysis.This report describes the JRR-4 core flow increase plan as well as the results of the channel flow rate measurement