First Start-Up of Nuclear Criticality Safety Experiment Facility for Uranyl Nitrate Solution

The uranyl nitrate solution experiment facility for the research on nuclear criticality safety is described. The nuclear fuel loading steps in the first start-up for water-reflected core are presented. During the experiments, the critical volume of uranyl nitrate solution was determined as 20 479.62 mL with count rate inverse extrapolation method, reactivity interpolation method, and steady power method. By calculation, critical mass of 235U was derived as 1 579.184 g from experimental data. The worth of control rods was also calibrated in the first start-up of the facility.