Calculation of neutron and gamma fluxes in support to the interpretation of measuring devices irradiated in the core periphery of the OSIRIS Material Testing Reactor
- Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission - CEA, Saclay Center, DEN/DANS/DM2S/SERMA, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)
Technological irradiations carried out in material testing reactors (MTRs) are used to study the behavior of materials under irradiation conditions required by different types of nuclear power plants (NPPs). For MTRs, specific instrumentation is required for the experiment monitoring and for the characterization of irradiation conditions, in particular the flux of neutrons and photons. To measure neutron and photon flux in experimental locations, different sensors can be used, such as SPNDs (self-powered neutron detectors), SPGDs (self-powered gamma detectors) and ionization chambers. These sensors involve interactions producing ultimately a measurable electric current. Various sensors have been recently tested in the core periphery of the OSIRIS reactor (located at the CEA-Saclay center) in order to qualify their responses to the neutron and the photon flux. One of the key input data for this qualification is to have a relevant evaluation of neutron and gamma fluxes at the irradiation location. The objective of this work is to evaluate the neutron and the gamma flux in the core periphery of the OSIRIS reactor. With this intention, specific neutron-photonic three-dimensional calculations have been performed and are mainly based on the TRIPOLI-4{sup R} three-dimensional continuous-energy Monte Carlo code, developed by CEA (Saclay Center) and extensively validated against reactor dosimetry benchmarks. In the case of the OSIRIS reactor, TRIPOLI-4{sup R} code has been validated against experimental results based on neutron flux and nuclear heating measurements performed in ex-core and in-core experiments. In this work, simultaneous contribution of neutrons and gamma photons in the core periphery is considered using neutron-photon coupled transport calculations. Contributions of prompt and decay photons have been taken into account for the gamma flux calculation. Specific depletion codes are used upstream to provide the decay-gamma sources required by TRIPOLI-4 calculations. In this paper, the neutron-photonic calculation scheme used for the neutron-gamma flux evaluation in the OSIRIS core periphery will be first detailed. Then, a comparison of calculated and measured values of neutron and gamma fluxes will be introduced. (author)
- Research Organization:
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016-5997 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22531398
- Report Number(s):
- ANIMMA-2015-IO-352; TRN: US16V0504102339
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ANIMMA 2015: 4. International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications, Lisboa (Portugal), 20-24 Apr 2015; Other Information: Country of input: France; 6 Refs.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
97 MATHEMATICAL METHODS AND COMPUTING
BENCHMARKS
CEA SACLAY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
GAMMA SOURCES
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS TESTING
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEUTRON FLUX
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OSIRIS REACTOR
PHOTONS
R CODES
RADIATION MONITORING
SELF-POWERED GAMMA DETECTORS
SELF-POWERED NEUTRON DETECTORS
SENSORS
T CODES