Technical scope of the REGAL Base Program - Revision 1.2

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    Abstract

    The Rod-Extremity and Gadolinia AnaLysis (REGAL) Program is a joint International Program with a view to broadening the experimental database on nuclide inventory in irradiated nuclear fuel. It aims to investigate two challenging issues in terms of characterizing the isotopic inventory of modern, high duty, nuclear fuel: rod extremity effects, where 3D effects such as energy-dependent neutron leakage fractions could lead to neutron spectrum shifts; and the use of gadolinia-doped fuel, where the huge absorption cross-section of 155Gd and 157Gd leads to atypical shielding patterns in these fuel rods. The local inhomogeneities induced by rod extremities or burnable poison rods are quite stimulating situations for assessing and improving the predictions of neutronic codes. Such an assessment, however, relies on high quality experimental data which is currently still rarely available in the open literature. In the framework of REGAL, pellet-average information obtained by destructive radiochemical analysis will be complemented by more spatially resolved local analysis to describe the radial distribution of fission products in the pellet. This will constitute an added value for neutronic code assessment.
    Original languageEnglish
    PublisherSCK CEN
    Number of pages23
    Volume1
    Edition12
    StatePublished - Jan 2015

    Publication series

    NameSCK•CEN Reports
    PublisherStudiecentrum voor Kernenergie
    No.ER-110

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