JUSTIFICATION OF NUCLEAR SAFETY DURING TEMPORARY STORAGE OF SPENT HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM FUEL FROM THE IVG.1M RESEARCH REACTOR
Keywords:
nuclear safety, spent nuclear fuel, criticality, MCNP5, neutron-physical modeling, regulatory requirements, fuel con-version.Abstract
This paper presents the justification of nuclear safety during the temporary storage of spent highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel from the IVG.1M research reactor. The aim of the study was to assess the level of criticality under various temporary storage scenarios and to verify compliance of storage conditions with regulatory requirements.
Based on neutron-physical calculations using the Monte Carlo method with the MCNP5 code, it is demonstrated that the proposed storage configuration provides a sufficient margin of subcriticality and complies with the regulatory documents of the Republic of Kazakhstan and international IAEA standards. Calculated parameters are presented, emergency scenarios are considered, and the obtained values of the effective neutron multiplication factor (keff) are analyzed. The results confirm that keff remains within nuclear safety limits even under deviations from normal conditions.
