Homogeneous Slowpoke Reactor for the Production of Radio-Isotope: a Feasibility Study

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the feasibility of replacing the actual heterogeneous fuel core of the present SLOWPOKE-2 by a reservoir containing a homogeneous fuel for the production of Mo- 99. The study looked at three items: by using the MCNP Monte Carlo reactor calculation code, develop a series of parameters required for an homogeneous fuel and evaluate the uranyl sulfate concentration of the aqueous solution fuel in order to keep a similar excess reactivity; verify if the homogeneous reactor will retain its inherent safety attributes; and with the new dimensions and geometry of the fuel core, observe whether natural convection can still effectively cool the reactor using the modeling software FEMLAB. It was found that it is indeed feasible to modify the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor for a homogeneous reactor using a solution of uranyl sulfate and water.