Experiments and Analysis for an Axially Heterogeneous Liquid-Metal Reactor Assembly at the Zero-Power Physics Reactor

Experiments in Zero-Power Physics Reactor 17 provided physics data for a full-scale axially heterogeneous 650-MW(electric) liquid-metal reactor. Measurements and analysis are reported for control rod worths, reaction rate distributions, gamma dose distributions, sodium void worths, and criticality. Agreement between measurement and calculation is generally satisfactory, but the axial heterogeneity did introduce analytical complications. Design-level calculation methods gave somewhat worse agreement with measurements than in previous homogeneous or radially heterogeneous assemblies.