Development of an experimental channel in CROCUS

This paper studies the possibility of adding an experimental channel into the core of the CROCUS nuclear reactor. Thinking about all the implications of the installation of a channel, different configurations for the insertion of a channel are discussed. The reactor is then sim- ulated using the MCNPX 2.4.0 code, in order to compare different possible channels. More precisely, the impact of the channel on the flux distribution, on the energy spectrum, and on the reactivity of the reactor are investigated. Adding a channel have reasonable effect on flux distributions and spectra. The negative reactivity added is reasonable as well, and can be compensated by the addition of a certain number of fuel rods. At the end, we are able to choose the configuration that seems to be the most efficient for an experimental channel.