Feasibility studies of LEU fuel conversion for the BMRR and HFBR.

Feasibility studies have been performed to convert both the Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor (BMRR) and the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory from the use of HEU (93%) fuel to the use of LEU (<20%) fuel. The studies are intended to determine suitable LEU fuels that will provide fuel lifetime and neutron flux performance similar to the current HEU fuels. Both reactors use MTR-type fuel assemblies: the BMRR has 18 fuel plates with 140g {sup 235}U (0.43 gU/cm{sup 3}) and the HFBR has 20 plates, of which 18 are fuel with 351 g {sup 235}U (1.1 gU/cm{sup 3})