CRITICALITY SAFETY OF PIPE INTERSECTIONS FOR PLUTONIUM NITRATE SOLUTIONS

In chemical processing of fissile solutions pipe intersections of complex geometry occur at various points of the process as evaporators, absorption washers and pipe connections of storage columns. Critical safety of these intersections is rather difficult to be assessed. For plutonium nitrate solution some simple models of intersection have been calculated by Monte Carlo Method for various reflector conditions. Computational method is checked against experiment. From the results parameters forsimpler methods of criticality control have been derived (Generalized Equivalent Cylinder- and Generalized Area of Intersection Methods). A k//e//f//f of about 0. 85 has been taken as basic of safe parameters.