Ever wanted to see a nuclear reactor core in action? Here’s a detailed simulation of the Zero Power Reactor experiment, run by Argonne’s unique “UNIC” code. Here, we use VisIt to visualize a numerical model of the ZPR-6 Assembly 6a experiment simulated using the Argonne UNIC code. 0:00-0:06: The fuel and other plates are dropped into an example drawer, and the drawer is inserted into the matrix tube. 0:06-0:21: The two matrix halves are brought together to make a critical (self-sustaining) assembly. 0:21-0:35: The fission power is revealed to be centralized in the thin, enriched Uranium plates. 0:35-0:53: Returning to our example drawer, we show the detailed local plate powers and their relation to the drawer composition. 0:53-1:11: Our model shows that each plate can have widely-varying local changes in the space and energy neutron densities. Read more at www.anl.gov
