Experimental burn-up analysis of ITU Triga Mark II reactor fuel elements

In this study, burn-up values ​​of spent fuels were determined using Non-Destructive Analysis (NDA) with the help of ¹³⁷Cs burn-up indicator. Four spent fuel elements (F30, D18, B5 and E14) that burned in the core of the Istanbul Technical University Triga Mark II research reactor over the years were investigated with two different methods. In addition, the individual activity of the fuel elements along the axial fuel length was determined by the High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. As expected, it was determined that the fuel element B5, located in the center of the reactor core, exhibited the highest burn-up value with both methods. The calculations conducted using method 1 revealed a burn-up rate of 205.59 MWd/tHM for the B5 fuel element, while method 2 yielded a burn-up value of 5.40%. Experimental results were compared with previous simulation burn-up studies.