Differential Die-Away Instrument: Report on Fuel Assembly Mock-up Measurements with Neutron Generator

Technical Report · Thu Sep 18 00:00:00 EDT 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1159088· OSTI ID:1159088

Goodsell, Alison Victoria ^[1]; Swinhoe, Martyn Thomas ^[1]; Henzl, Vladimir ^[1]; Rael, Carlos D. ^[1]; Desimone, David J. ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Fresh fuel experiments for the differential die-away (DDA) project were performed using a DT neutron generator, a 15x15 PWR fuel assembly, and nine ³He detectors in a water tank inside of a shielded cell at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Eight different fuel enrichments were created using low enriched (LEU) and depleted uranium (DU) dioxide fuel rods. A list-mode data acquisition system recorded the time-dependent signal and analysis of the DDA signal die-away time was performed. The die-away time depended on the amount of fissile material in the fuel assembly and the position of the detector. These experiments were performed in support of the spent nuclear fuel Next Generation Safeguards Initiative DDA project. Lessons learned from the fresh fuel DDA instrument experiments and simulations will provide useful information to the spent fuel project.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1159088
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-14-27305
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
DIFFERENTIAL DIE AWAY
FRESH FUEL
NEUTRON GENERATOR
EXPERIMENTS
CALIBRATION
ACTIVE INTERROGATION