Reactivity worth measurements with CALIBAN and SILENE experimental reactors

Abstract
Reactivity worth measurements of material samples put in the central cavities of nuclear reactors allow to test cross section nuclear databases or to extract information about the critical masses of fissile elements. Such experiments have already been completed on the CALIBAN and SILENE experimental reactors operated by the Criticality and Neutronics Research Laboratory of Valduc (CEA, France), using the perturbation measurement technique. Calculations have been performed to prepare future experiments on new materials.