Simulation of differential die-away instrument’s response to asymmetrically burned spent nuclear fuel

Journal Article · Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.02.058· OSTI ID:1289709

Martinik, Tomas ^[1]; Henzl, Vladimir ^[2]; Grape, Sophie ^[3]; Svard, Staffan Jacobsson ^[3]; Jansson, Peter ^[3]; Swinhoe, Martyn T. ^[2]; Tobin, Stephen J. ^[4]

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1. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden)
4. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, Stockholm (Sweden)

Here, previous simulation studies of Differential Die–Away (DDA) instrument’s response to active interrogation of spent nuclear fuel from a pressurized water reactor (PWR) yielded promising results in terms of its capability to accurately measure or estimate basic spent fuel assembly (SFA) characteristics, such as multiplication, initial enrichment (IE) and burn-up (BU) as well as the total plutonium content. These studies were however performed only for a subset of idealized SFAs with a symmetric BU with respect to its longitudinal axis. Therefore, to complement the previous results, additional simulations have been performed of the DDA instrument’s response to interrogation of asymmetrically burned spent nuclear fuel in order to determine whether detailed assay of SFAs from all 4 sides will be necessary in real life applications or whether a cost and time saving single sided assay could be used to achieve results of similar quality as previously reported in case of symmetrically burned SFAs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1289709
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1701793; OSTI ID: 22460945
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--14-21574; PII: S0168900215002685
• Journal Information: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Journal Issue: C Vol. 788; ISSN 0168-9002
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
asymmetric burn-up
differential die-away
spent nuclear fuel