Performance of newly fabricated nuclear fuels must be tested under desired neutronic and thermal-hydraulic operating conditions prior to utilization in the reactor core. Tehran research reactor (TRR) as an MTR-type reactor is the only operating research reactor in the country that can potentially be used for irradiation tests on domestic fuels. In this study, compacting TRR core configuration, as a method to increase thermal neutron flux in the central in-core irradiation position to provide desired neutronic environment for fuel irradiation tests, is of concern. Several design criteria and limitations, including preservation of enough and suitable irradiation positions in the core for routine radioisotopes production activities of the reactor, have been considered to develop a new compact core configuration for TRR in which, desired linear heat generation rate is achieved in the test fuels and all the neutronic and thermal-hydraulic safety parameters of the proposed configuration are in accordance with the acceptance criteria stated in the reactor FSAR.

在反应堆堆芯中使用之前，必须在所需的中子和热工操作条件下对新型核燃料的性能进行测试。德黑兰研究型反应堆（TRR）作为MTR型反应堆是该国唯一可用于国内燃料辐射测试的在运研究型反应堆。在这项研究中，作为一种增加中心堆芯辐照位置中的热中子通量以为燃料辐照测试提供所需中子环境的方法，压实TRR堆芯构型是值得关注的。已考虑了几种设计标准和局限性，包括在堆芯中保留足够和适当的辐照位置以用于反应堆的常规放射性同位素生产活动，以开发出TRR的新型紧凑型堆芯配置，其中，