Multisphere measurements in power reactor containments

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7168544

Scherpelz, R I; Tanner, J E; Soldat, K L; Endres, G W.R.; Brackenbush, L W ^[1]

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1. Battelle-Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

For more than 12 years, Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories (PNL) has performed neutron measurements in commercial nuclear power plants to determine the response of the plant's personnel dosimeters and survey meters. The multisphere spectrometer system has been used in many of these studies because it covers a wide range of neutron energies and is widely used in the nuclear industry. The system used by PNL employs a 1.27- x 1.27-cm LiI crystal in seven moderated configurations with moderating sphere sizes ranging up to 30.5 cm in diameter. The collected count rates are unfolded using the computer code SPUNIT and a modification of the Sanna response functions. Multisphere measurements have been performed in eight different light water reactors (LWRs), including both boiling water reactor (BWRs) and pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Unfolded energy distributions are typically low with average energies often <100 keV. Spectra in BWRs frequently show higher average energies than those in PWRs. The most useful application of multisphere measurements in LWR containments is for measuring energy distributions for comparisons to other multisphere measurements.

• OSTI ID: 7168544
• Report Number(s): CONF-911107--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210100 -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Boiling Water Cooled
210200 -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
440103 -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
BATTELLE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORIES
BONNER SPHERE SPECTROMETERS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CLOTHING
COMPUTER CODES
CONTAINMENT
CONTAINMENT SYSTEMS
DOSE EQUIVALENTS
DOSIMETRY
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
IODIDES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM HALIDES
LITHIUM IODIDES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEUTRON SPECTROMETERS
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
PERSONNEL DOSIMETRY
PHOSPHORS
POWER REACTORS
PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIATION MONITORING
REACTORS
S CODES
SIZE
SPECTROMETERS
SURVEILLANCE
THERMAL REACTORS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS