$1.60 pulse on a TRIGA

pulse from critical at 50 watts to 340 Megawatts in 30 milliseconds and then shutdown. just another day at the office.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• pulse
• TRIGA
• nuclear
• reactor

[TimeLapseSteve]

Can someone explain how it is safe to stand this close to the core of a nuclear reactor going critical and releasing a shitload of neutrons? I'm guessing the water plays some sort of role in shielding?

[bothenook]

@TimeLapseSteve there is about 24 feet of water between the top of the core and the surface.  that is an amazing amount of shielding, enough to allow us to stand over the top of the tank during the pulse. the only thing we have to do is insure there is enough cross flow over the core to keep the heat from causing a thermal riser, allowing the N16 enough time to decay before reaching the people space.

[bothenook]

@soverato3 : one dollar is the terminology selected to indicate the amount of reactivity to take the reactor prompt critical. when less than prompt critical, the reactor controls on a small fraction of the neutrons that are generated by the decay of fission fragments. those are called delayed neutrons. as long as you stay below one dollar, the reactor is easily controlled, since some of the neutrons causing fission don't show up to the party until 7 seconds after fission.

[Azarien]

0:32 evil scientist's laugh

[StoleTheL]

@bothenook i think id still does up on the Ki pills and wear some sort of lead apparatus before taking that walk. Once you wake up glowing blue in the middle of the night you cant go back...

[PrometheanRunGood]

The pertiest blue you'll ever see. Now I want to see a video of blue ionization radiation from a core going critical in air.

Please oblige.

[edunuke]

@bothenook ..."or to obtain a desired neutron flux for irradiation or research purposes"... ;)

I also worked at one research reactor. It was mainly performed for the reasons you stated.

But since we were converting to LEU fuel and we still had plenty of fuel we started to pulse it to consume fuel. It was DOE approved procedure. Cheers.

[Ulquiorrapwns]

God damn who put bees in the reactor!

[TimeLapseSteve]

@bothenook Thank you. I find that fascinating.

[bothenook]

@edunuke pulsing to consume fuel may be appropriate for some reactors, but that seems like a hazardous way to burn fuel off, considering at end of life, there is a large gas accumulation inside the fuel elements which will cause a huge pressure spike during the pulse. we use it to get 340 times the number of neutrons per second for experiment irradiations.

[JonnyTommyGuns]

@bothenook Alright it's official I know nothing about nuclear engineering. But I do understand now that 1 dollar is prompt and that means the reactor is good to go lol?