Experimental Study of the TRIGA fuel characteristics (IA-1)

Individual Activity, IA-1 (TUW)

Date:

07. 02. 2022 – 11. 02. 2022

Venue:

Vienna, Austria

Organisers:

TRIGA Center Atominstitut, TU Wien under the European Nuclear Experimental Educational Platform (ENEEP)

Languages:

English

Purpose:

The TRIGA Mark-II Vienna reactor was installed by General Atomic (San Diego, California, U.S.A.) in the years 1959 through 1962, and went critical for the first time on March 7, 1962. Operation of the reactor since that time has averaged 220 days per year, without any long outages. The TRIGA-reactor is purely a research reactor of the swimming-pool type that is used for training, research and isotope production (Training, Research, Isotope Production, General Atomic = TRIGA). Throughout the world there are more than 50 TRIGA-reactors in operation, Europe alone accounting for 10 of them.

The TRIGA fuel was created under the Atoms for Peace in the United states from 1953 till 1958. The main goal of the fuel was its inherent safety. Safe by nature, and not safe by design was the main goal.

In this individual course the TRIGA fuel characteristics are studied in detail with different experiments.

  • Measurement of the thermal neutron flux density in the reactor core.
  • Measurement of the Control rod calibration based on the released reactivity and the corresponding reactor period.
  • Determination of the reactivity value of uranium fuel- and graphite elements in different core positions.
  • Determination of the core excess reactivity combined with the determination of the temperature coefficient of the reactivity
  • Study of different pulses of the reactor, combine the released reactivity with the corresponding energy and power of the pulse.

Eligible countries:

27 European Union countries, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia

Participants’ qualifications:

The course is aimed for Ph.D. students or trainees studying physics and nuclear engineering as the major curriculum.

Course programme:

The individual training will be held in Vienna at the TRIGA Center Atominstitut of the TU Wien.

The week consists of the following topics:

  • Explanation of the practical experiments
  • Performance of the experiments under the supervision of the Reactor Staff
  • Evaluation together with the Reactor Staff

Course director:

Mario Villa and Helmuth Böck

Application deadline:

15th November 2021 23.59 CET

Application Procedure:

To apply to the course, the applicant should submit the following documents:

  • filled-in application form,
  • curriculum vitae,
  • motivation letter,
  • recommendation letter,
  • enrolment certificate,
  • list of courses passed and grades achieved, relevant to the attendance at course.

The applicant should follow detailed instructions on the ENEEP website: Demonstration Courses

The number of accepted participants from eligible countries will be one and from non-eligible countries will be one.

The ENEEP evaluation committee will email all applicants about acceptance or rejection by 15th December 2021 23.59 CET.

Course fee, fellowship:

Participants from eligible countries

  • The course is free of charge for participants from eligible countries. All selected participants from eligible countries will be granted by the ENEEP fellowship 680 EUR (six hundred and eighty). The fellowship is dedicated to cover accommodation, per diem, local public transport, health insurance, and partially also transport to and from the venue.

Participants from non-eligible countries

  • The course fee for participants from non-eligible countries is 1 250 EUR (one thousand and two hundred fifty). The course fee does not include accommodation, per diem, local public transport, health insurance, and transportation to and from the venue.