Practice 2

Reactor Power
Calibration
Reactor Physics and Nuclear Engineering
Overview
Kartini Reactor
General

Kartini reactor is located in Yogyakarta Special District of Indonesia. This reactor is TRIGA type
reactor (Training, Research, Isotope production/irradiation of General Atomic). Uranium
Zirconium Hydride (UZrH) fuel with 19.75% enrichment is used.The reactor has a nominal power
of 100 kW, it is cooled by light water. The cooling waterisdemineralized and circulated by the
primary cooling system. The reactor hall is equipped with a ventilation system in order to
maintain the negative air pressure in reactor hall above0.1 cm H2O.Inherent safety of a TRIGA
fuel type is robust to handle the changes in reactor power operating due to large reactivity
temperaturecoefficient. The reactor is equipped with three control rods: a safety rod, a shim
(compensating) rod, and a regulating rod, which is used to regulate the reactor operation. Any
abnormal operation will cause the reactor to scram, i.e.all control rods will fall in the core. The
rods being in their lower position, the reactor will be in a shutdown state.

The applications of the Kartini reactor are: the education and training, research and neutron
activation analysis.

The three safety principles in Kartini reactor are:

- The control of the neutron production due to the fission reaction in the reactor core
using the control rods as well as a the neutron detection systems,
- the confinement of the isotope production, due to fission reaction in fuel, usingthe
claddingof the fuel,
- the cooling of the core by the removal of the energy produced by fission and gamma
heating in the fuel element, using the primary and secondary cooling system.

Kartini reactor is typically operated in level of power ranging from 10 W to 100 kW. One of the
safety parameter of the reactor is the reactor period. The period of the reactor has to be kept
above 7 seconds when increasing the power of the reactor. A period below 7 seconds leads to a
reactor SCRAM by the reactor protection system. Another safety parameter is the maximum
power of the reactor: if the power reaches 110 % of the nominal power the reactor is scramed
by the reactor protection system. In both case, the reactor is shut down. These two parameters,
the period and the power, are safety setting limit of the reactor safety system on theKartini
reactor.

In the reactor hall, for radiation protection purposes, radiation monitoring systemsand gamma
area monitoring (GAM) are installed. The personnel working on the Kartini reactor, including
researchers, must worn personal film badge dosimeter. As for guests and students pocket
dosimeter are used.The air circulation in reactor hall uses the ventilation system which is
equipped witha high efficiencyfilter in order to filter potentially activated particulates before
the air is released to the environment.

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Environment monitoring is done regularly everymonth in order to characterize the
environmental radioactivity conditions related to the impact of reactor operation. The
concentrate activities and exposure are measured using survey meter and environment
material sampling such as air, sand, grass, surface water and ground water.

In order to perform reactor operation safely, all the systems of the reactor must be operational,
with theirroutine calibration and maintenance schedules accomplished, and used accodrding to
their operating procedures and guidelines.

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Reactor Physics and Nuclear Engineering

Protocol No. 3
Reactor Power Calibration
I. Purpose
Perform calibration power reactor, which is looking for actual power generated in the reactor
core comparing to the indicated power meter.

II. Theoretical Background

Reactor power generated by the energy released from fission reactions that occur in the
reactor. The number of fission reactions that occur per second per unit reactor volume is
determined by  f.
If the number of fission reactions per second that need to generate a power of 1 watt is
3.2 x 1010 fissions, then the total power P of the reactor is given by the equation:


f = macroscopic fission cross-sections
Vf = volume of reactor.

So by measuring the neutron flux in core, the reactor power can be determined. Another
method is using calorimeter method that can be done in 2 ways:
Method 1 - Reactor operated with the cooling system not in operation – cooling system Off
Method 2 - Reactor operated with cooling system is operation – cooling system On
In Method 1, when the cooling system is off, i.e. method of non-stationary, the heat generated
by the reactor core reactors accumulate in the tank, so the water temperature in the reactor
will rise. The maximum limit of the temperature allowed for the water tank at KARTINI reactor
is 40 °C. The rate of temperature rise in the water tank, at a fixed power level, can be used to
determine the actual power of the reactor. The power of the reactor is expressed by the
following equation:
dQ dT Equation (1)
P= = H
dt dt

with P = real reactor power, in kW

Q = heat that is formed in the reactor,
H = water value of KARTINI reactor = 19.0476 kWh / °C,
T = temperature of the water tank reactor in °C,
t = observation time interval, in hours.

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In Method 2, when the cooling system is on, i.e. stationary method, the heat produced in the
reactor tank is taken by the primary cooling system. Then, through a heat exchanger (HE), heat
is transferred to a secondary coolant system. The coolant flow rate being constant, we obtain
stationary conditions. In the stationary condition, the heat transferred from the reactor core
depends on water discharge (G) and different inlet and outlet temperature of the primary coolant
system. Reactor power is determined mathematically by the following equation:
P = 0.06 x G . c . T Equation (2),
G = primary cooling water discharge system, in litre/min,
c = specific heat of water c = 4.187 W.s/g.°C,
T = the difference in temperature between the HE inlet and outlet, in °C.

At reactor console, the reactor power can be read using either:

- the linear power channel (% power) associated with the Compensated Ionisation
Chamber (CIC) detector in reactor
- the logarithmic power channel (power) associated with the Fission Chamber (FC)
detector in the reactor.
If the linear power channel (% power) meter indicates a value different from the one given by
the power calibration by Method 1, it is necessary to calibrate the linear channel (% power) as
well as the logarithmic channel.

III. Equipment
1. Thermometer 20 oC - 100 oC
2. Stopwatch
3. Small bucket to fetch water from reactor tank.

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 IV. Experiment Procedures

Method 1 – Cooling system Off

1. Reactor is operated in critical without reactor coolant system running.
2. Raise the reactor power to a constant level of power of 100 kW.
3. Observe during one hour the water temperature increase in the reactor tank. Record the
temperature value every 5 minutes in the following table. Use round thermometer (A) and
cube thermometer(B).

Temperature (°C)
Time (minutes)
Themometer A Themometer B
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60

4. Plot the graph of the temperatures versus time.

5. Calculate the slope of the curve.
6. From the value of the slope determine the actual power of the reactor using Equation (1).
7. Compare the value obtained to the power indicated by the linear power meter.

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Method 2 – Cooling system On
8. The primary and secondary cooling systems are turned On.
9. Record and write in the following table the temperature of the water tank, of the HE inlet
and of the HE outlet of the primary cooling system, every 10 minutes until the tank water
temperature constant (stationary).

Time (mn) Tank HE inlet HE outlet

Temperature temperature temperature(°
(°C) (°C) C)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60

10. Once the stationary state is obtained, use the Equation (2) to calculate the actual power
reactor.
11. Compare the value obtained to the value obtained by Method 1 and to the power indicated by
the linear power meter. Comment the results.

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