Final Report for the Testing of the Y-12 Criticality Accident Alarm System Detectors at the Godiva IV Burst Reactor (IER-443)

Technical Report · Fri Jan 05 00:00:00 EST 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1418913· OSTI ID:1418913

Scorby, John C. ^[1]; Hickman, David ^[1]; Hudson, Becka ^[1]; Beller, Tim ^[2]; Goda, Joetta ^[2]; Haught, Chris ^[3]; Woodrow, Christopher ^[3]; Ward, Dann ^[4]; Wilson, Chris ^[5]; Clark, Leo ^[5]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
4. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
5. Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)

This report documents the experimental conditions and final results for the performance testing of the Y-12 Criticality Accident Alarm System (CAAS) detectors at the Godiva IV Burst Reactor at the National Criticality Experimental Research Center (NCERC) at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The testing followed a previously issued test plan and was conducted during the week of July 17, 2017, with completion on Thursday July 20. The test subjected CAAS detectors supplied by Y-12 to very intense and short duration mixed neutron and gamma radiation fields to establish compliance to maximum radiation and minimum pulse width requirements. ANSI/ANS- 8.3.1997 states that the “system shall be sufficiently robust as to actuate an alarm signal when exposed to the maximum radiation expected”, which has been defined at Y-12, in Documented Safety Analyses (DSAs), to be a dose rate of 10 Rad/s. ANSI/ANS-8.3.1997 further states that “alarm actuation shall occur as a result of a minimum duration transient” which may be assumed to be 1 msec. The pulse widths and dose rates provided by each burst during the test exceeded those requirements. The CAAS detectors all provided an immediate alarm signal and remained operable after the bursts establishing compliance to the requirements and fitness for re-deployment at Y-12.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1418913
• Report Number(s): LLNL-TR-744101
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOCIMETRY
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS