Neutron radiography facility annular core pulse reactor
- Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Neutron radiography capabilities which are an integral part of the Annular Core Pulse Reactor (ACPR) experiment facilities have been extended and improved. Neutron radiography provides an important non-destructive testing technique. Ordinary x- or gamma-radiography are not entirely satisfactory for the non-destructive testing of such items as explosives, valve seals, sealing materials, and electrical potting compounds. The non-linearity in neutron absorption and scattering cross-sections for the different elements as compared to x-ray attenuation makes neutron radiography attractive as a testing tool and also, this technique complements the ordinary x- or gamma-radiography evaluation methods. The new facility provides a beam of collimated thermal neutrons at the exposure (plate) position which is located on the reactor support bridge structure. The exposure position also is situated at one end of a vertical tube which houses a collimator tube which can be used to 'focus' the core neutrons onto the experiment and plate. Typical collimator ratios are 65/1, 125/1, 250/1, and 500/1. Respective flux (nv) levels at the experiment location for these ratios are 1.4 x 10{sup 7}, 4.03 x 10{sup 6}, 9.2 x 10{sup 5}, and 2.93 x 10{sup 5}. The bottom of the collimator tube contains a large experiment chamber which normally houses reflector materials for scattering neutrons into the collimator. The chamber dry volume is about 76 liters and is surrounded on three sides by heavy water. Access to the dry chamber is provided through the collimator tube. This feature allows radiation experiments to be placed virtually next to the core. A large blast shield is mounted on top of the collimator tube to isolate the radiography facility from the reactor control mechanisms in the event an explosive should detonate. Safety evaluation of the facility and its effect on the reactor were examined for such features as structural strength, reactivity changes, explosive energy release, buoyancy effect, etc. Only reactivity effects are discussed here; as example the worth of the dry chamber next to the core is a negative 24 cents; flooding the chamber with ordinary (tank) water results in a relative change of plus 21 cents or a net of negative 3 cents. Flooding with D{sub 2}O results in a net change of plus 19 cents. Leakage of the chamber heavy water into the tank water results in a maximum reactivity addition of 42 cents. (author)
- Research Organization:
- General Atomic Co., San Diego, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21152772
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09N0184; TOC-7; TRN: US09N0148030827
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 4. TRIGA owners' conference, Salt Lake City, UT (United States), 1-3 Mar 1976; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Abstract on p. xxiii-xxiv; 4 refs, 3 figs, 3 tabs; Related Information: In: 4. TRIGA owners' conference. Papers and abstracts, 356 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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