Cross-Section Calculation and Comparative Assessment of Al and Zr as Cladding for NIRR-1

The NIRR-1 went through conversion from highly enrich uranium HEU to low enriched Uranium LEU fuel. The design of the fuel core is such that the cladding materials have been changed from aluminum to zirconium. The cladding materials may likely experience neutron dose which is susceptible to degradation of the materials. Hence, the needs to ascertain the level of degradation of the materials are crucial. Therefore, we calculate the reaction cross section of Al and Zr target with EMPIRE 3.2.3 modular nuclear reaction code. The calculated results were compared with measured data from EXFOR and the Evaluated Nuclear Data (ENDF). Comparative assessment of neutronic impact of Al and Zr used in the high and low enrich uranium fuel in NIRR-1 were carry out by compared cross section of Al with Zr results in the reaction channel relevance to the cladding materials. The results show that ⁹⁰(. ) have high mean cross section of 1720.30 mb and ⁹⁰(. ) with lower mean cross section of 0.54 mb while ²⁷(. ) and ²⁷(. ) high and low mean cross section is 482.5 mb and 0.022 mb respectively. It was observed that Zr target absorption cross section is better compared to Al target. This indicates that Zr has proven higher resistance to corrosion and longevity in terms of degradation as cladding materials.