Author(s)

Bright Madinka Mweetwa¹, Emmanuel Ampomah-Amoako², Edward Horga Korbla Akaho²

¹National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Lusaka, Zambia.
²School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.

The Program for the Analysis of Reactor Transients/Argonne National Laboratory (PARET/ANL) code was used to predict the thermal hydraulic behaviour of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 after adding 9.0 mm of beryllium to the top shim tray of the core. The core was analysed for reactivity insertions 2.1 mk, 3.0 mk, 4.0 mk, 5.0 mk and 6.7 mk, respectively. The reactor is still safe to operate in the range 2.1 mk to 4.0 mk. However, 2.1 mk would be ideal since the reactor automatic shutdown (SCRAM) is set not to exceed 120% of reactor nominal power.

Reactivity Insertion, Transients, Control Rod Worth, Power Peaking Factor, Moderator Reactivity Coefficient, Neutronic Parameters

Mweetwa, B. , Ampomah-Amoako, E. and Akaho, E. (2017) Transient Studies of Ghana Research Reactor-1 after Nineteen (19) Years of Operation Using PARET/ANL Code. World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 7, 223-231. doi: 10.4236/wjnst.2017.74018.