Decommissioning and PIE of the MEGAPIE spallation target

Conference · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013

OSTI ID:22267981

Latge, C.; Henry, J. ^[1]; Wohlmuther, M.; Dai, Y.; Gavillet, D.; Hammer, B.; Heinitz, S.; Neuhausen, J.; Schumann, D.; Thomsen, K.; Tuerler, A.; Wagner, W. ^[2]; Gessi, A. ^[3]; Guertin, A. ^[4]; Konstantinovic, M. ^[5]; Lindau, R. ^[6]; Maloy, S. ^[7]; Saito, S. ^[8]

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1. CEA-Cadarache, DEN-DTN, 13108 Saint-Paul-les-Durance (France)
2. PSI, Villigen (Switzerland)
3. ENEA, Brasimone (Italy)
4. CNRS, Subatech, Nantes (France)
5. SCK-CEN, Mol (Belgium)
6. KIT, Karlsruhe (Germany)
7. DOE-LANL, Los Alamos (United States)
8. JAEA, Tokai (Japan)

A key experiment in the Accelerated Driven Systems roadmap, the MEGAwatt PIlot Experiment (MEGAPIE) (1 MW) was initiated in 1999 in order to design and build a liquid lead-bismuth spallation target, then to operate it into the Swiss spallation neutron facility SINQ at Paul Scherrer Institute. The target has been designed, manufactured, and tested during integral tests, before irradiation carried out end of 2006. During irradiation, neutron and thermo hydraulic measurements were performed allowing deep interpretation of the experiment and validation of the models used during design phase. The decommissioning, Post Irradiation Examinations and waste management phases were defined properly. The phases dedicated to cutting, sampling, cleaning, waste management, samples preparation and shipping to various laboratories were performed by PSI teams: all these phases constitute a huge work, which allows now to perform post-irradiation examination (PIE) of structural material, irradiated in relevant conditions. Preliminary results are presented in the paper, they concern chemical characterization. The following radio-nuclides have been identified by γ-spectrometry: {sup 60}Co, {sup 101}Rh, {sup 102}Rh, {sup 108m}Ag, {sup 110m}Ag, {sup 133}Ba, {sup 172}Hf/Lu, {sup 173}Lu, {sup 194}Hg/Au, {sup 195}Au, {sup 207}Bi. For some of these nuclides the activities can be easily evaluated from γ-spectrometry results ({sup 207}Bi, {sup 194}Hg/Au), while other nuclides can only be determined after chemical separations ({sup 108m}Ag, {sup 110m}Ag, {sup 195}Au, {sup 129}I, {sup 36}Cl and α-emitting {sup 208-210}Po). The concentration of {sup 129}I is lower than expected. The chemical analysis already performed on spallation and corrosion products in the lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) are very relevant for further applications of LBE as a spallation media and more generally as a coolant.

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22267981
• Resource Relation: Conference: GLOBAL 2013: International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference - Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads, Salt Lake City, UT (United States), 29 Sep - 3 Oct 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 12 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of GLOBAL 2013: International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference - Nuclear Energy at a Crossroads| 1633 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY
RADIOCHEMISTRY AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BARIUM 133
BISMUTH 207
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COBALT 60
EVALUATION
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
HAFNIUM 172
IODINE 129
IRRADIATION
LUTETIUM 173
MERCURY 194
POLONIUM 210
RHODIUM 101