Thermal Hydraulic Analyses of LEU Target Plates for Mo-99 Production

Abstract

Conversion from mastered High-Enriched Uranium to Low Enriched Uranium target for Molybdenum production constituted a challenge for nuclear engineering to evaluate its behavior during the three phases (irradiation, cooling and post irradiation). The present work is a contribution to thermal hydraulic analysis of Low Enriched Uranium target plate’s behavior during irradiation using CFD model. Neutronic calculation, target properties and cooling parameters of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) research group were used as an input in our model. The results obtained with CFD numerical model show that the irradiation conditions are below thermal margins and are approximately close to those obtained by using TMAP code. The developed CFD model will be extended to analyze the thermal hydraulic behavior of Low Enriched Uranium target plates at cooling period (natural convection) and at transfer period (in contact with air).