Neutron Source Facility of the National Science Center “Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology” at Kharkiv, Ukraine

Technical Report · Mon Oct 03 04:00:00 UTC 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1900255· OSTI ID:1900255

Gohar, Yousry ^[1]; Briggs, Laural L. ^[1]; Cao, Yan ^[1]; Fischer, Richard ^[1]; Kellogg, Roger L. ^[1]; Kraus, Adam ^[1]; Merzari, Elia ^[1]; Talamo, Alberto ^[1]; Zhong, Zhaopeng ^[1]

---

1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Argonne National Laboratory developed, designed, and supported the construction of a state-of-the-art Neutron Source Facility (NSF) at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) in Kharkov Ukraine, under the U.S. DOE NNSA Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return (RRRFR) program. Ukraine approved the return of all highly enriched uranium in the country to Russia prior to the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in return for the RRRFR program to fund the development, the design, and the construction of the NSF. The facility is designed to produce medical isotopes, train nuclear professionals, support the Ukrainian nuclear industry, and provide experimental capabilities for performing reactor physics, materials, and basic science research. The NSF was successfully started and operated in August 2021. The NSF is the first facility of this type in the world, and it will be used to understand the physics of driven systems for energy production and the disposal of spent nuclear fuels. The NSF consists of a subcritical assembly using low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel driven with an electron accelerator. The NSF target design utilizes tungsten or natural uranium for producing neutrons through photonuclear reactions using 100-MeV electrons. The accelerator power is 100 KW, which produces 3x10¹⁴ neutrons per second from the uranium target. The subcritical assembly is designed to obtain the highest possible neutron flux intensity with an effective neutron multiplication factor of less than 0.98. Passive safety, reliability, and environmental considerations were included in the NSF design. The NSF utilization study shows that this neutron source has the capability of producing different medical isotopes. Several horizontal neutron channels are incorporated for performing applied and basic research. The NSF is configured to accommodate future design upgrades and new missions. The facility design was approved by the Ukraine Academy of Sciences before starting the NSF construction. The construction, the equipment installation, and the operation of the different systems of the NSF were completed and approved by the Ukrainian regulators. In July 2020, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) issued a license for the physical startup of the NSF. The construction of facility was completed in early 2021.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1900255
• Report Number(s): ANL/NSE-22/29; 179767
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS