VCTR: A Versatile Coupled Test Reactor Concept

Abstract

The United States has currently no domestic fast neutron test and irradiation capabilities necessary to pursue a strong research and development program related to fast neutron reactors. This lack prevents the testing of fast reactor fuels in a prototypic environment, the testing of new safety features and of new coolants. A new irradiation test reactor is a costly investment that will operate for several decades and the initial specifications are crucial to ensure the relevance of such a facility in the long run. This new test reactor should be highly reconfigurable and allow operation as a fast test reactor or a thermal test reactor or a cou-pled fast-thermal test reactor. This report presents the on-going effort at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to design a versatile coupled test reactor (VCTR—pronounced Victor) that could fulfill the R&D needs requiring high fast neutron fluxes but also high thermal neutron fluxes in configurations that could not be met in current thermal neutron test reactors such as ATR. The objective of this report is to summarize the efforts undertaken at INL from May 2015 to March 2016 aimed at understanding the main options for designing and building a versatile test reactor, with a primary mission to provide thermal and fast neutrons for irradiation of fuels and materials in a manner complementary to the ATR and HFIR reactors. Other missions can also be considered, including the validation of computer codes and the development of specific reactor technologies.