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 137 Cs 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 5.40% for the B5 fuel element, while method 2 yielded a burnup value of 205.59 MWd/tHM. Experimental results were compared with previous simulation burn-up studies.