Measurements of fuel pin/water hole worths and power peaking, void coefficients, and temperature coefficients for 4. 81 wt% enriched UO[sub 2] fuel rods

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reactor critical facility is currently the only facility in North America providing critical measurement data in support of the light water reactor electric power industry. The reactor is fueled by 4.81 wt% [sup 235]U enriched UO[sub 2] high-density pellets in stainless steel clad fuel rods at the present time, although experiments with other fuels are being analyzed. The fuel pins are supported by inexpensive stainless steel lattice plates in a large open water tank. Three sets of lattice plates have been fabricated for fuel pins in square array with pitches 0.585, 0.613, and 0.640 in. (1.486, 0.613, and 1.656 cm, respectively) to provide a relevant range of water-to-fuel volume ratios. The measurements reported here are for the first of these, a relatively tight lattice of considerable interest for reactor physics methods for advanced fuels and reactors.