NEUTRONIC ASPECT ON TRIGA 2000 REACTOR WITH THORIUM-URANIUM MIXED FUEL

• Main Author: Windia Fahira, Salsha
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/50395
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

As a nuclear fuel which available in nature, Thorium especially Thorium-232 can be used as nuclear fuel in nuclear reactors as well as Uranium. Thorium (Th-232) is a fertile material, so it cannot directly produce neutrons for the fission chain reaction to occur. The use of Thorium-232 as nuclear reactor fuel must be combined with fissile isotopes such as Uranium-233 (U-233) or Uranium-235 (U-235). In this study, neutronic aspect such as the effective multiplication factor (keff) and reactivity will be evaluated. Both of them are related to reactor safety aspects. The reactivity change is focused on fuel temperature reactivity coefficient and void reactivity coefficient. The reactor used in this study is research reactor TRIGA2000. To obtain the data in this study, MCNPX2.6 program will be used. In this study, it was found that enrichment value that met keff value to achieve core criticality reactor was 4-20% for (Th-U233)O2 and 10-20% for (Th-U235)O2. The value of fuel temperature reactivity coefficient and void reactivity coefficient for (Th-U233)O2 and (Th-U235)O2 were negative. It means when the fuel temperature and the void both increase, there is a decrease in reactor power. This shows that reactor had inherent safety.