| 1. |
- Chernikova, Dina, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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A direct method for evaluating the concentration of boric acid in a fuel pool using scintillation detectors for joint-multiplicity measurements
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002. ; 714, s. 90-97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present investigations are aimed at the development of a direct passive non-intrusive method for determining the concentration of boric acid in a spent fuel pool using scintillation detectors with the purpose of correcting joint-multiplicity measurement results. The method utilizes a modified relation between two gamma lines with energy of 480 keV and 2.23 MeV, respectively. The gamma line at 480 keV belongs to the thermal neutron capture in boron. The 2.23 MeV gamma line characterizes the capture of thermal neutrons in hydrogen. Thus, the relation between them can reveal the concentration of the boron in the fuel pool. In order to test this method, first MCNPX and MCNP-PoliMi simulations were performed. Then, based on the results of Monte Carlo simulations, the method was verified by an experimental study with a 241Am-Be source and EJ-309 scintillation detectors. The concentration of boron in water varied from 1550 ppm to 4000 ppm. The results of these tests are provided in the paper and they show that the spectral ratio between these two lines can in principle be used to determine the boron content.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Chernikova, Dina, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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A potential alternative/complement to the traditional thermal neutron based counting in Nuclear Safeguards and Security
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002. ; 810, s. 164-171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new concept for thermal neutron based correlation and multiplicity measurements is proposed in this paper. The main idea of the concept consists of using 2.223 MeV gammas (or 1.201 MeV, DE) originating in the (1) H (n,gamma)D-2-reaction instead of using traditional thermal neutron counting. Results of investigations presented in this paper indicate that gammas from thermal neutron capture reactions preserve the information about the correlation characteristics of thermal (fast) neutrons in the same time scale. Therefore, instead of thermal neutron detectors (or as a complement) one may use traditional and inexpensive gamma detectors, such as Nal, BGO, CdZnTe or any other gamma detector. In this work we used D8 x 8 cm(2) Nal scintillator to test the concept. Thus, the new approach helps to address the problem of replacement of He-3-counters and problems related to the specific measurements of spent nuclear fuel directly in the spent fuel pool. It has a particular importance for Nuclear Safeguards and Security. Overall, this work represents the proof of concept study and reports on the experimental and numerical evidence that thermal neutron capture gammas may be used in the context of correlation and multiplicity measurements. Investigations were performed using a (252)-Cf-correlated neutron source and an Am-241-Be-random neutron source. The related idea of the Gamma Differential Die-Away approach is investigated numerically in this paper as well, and will be tested experimentally in future work.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Chernikova, Dina, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Novel passive and active tungsten-based identifiers for maintaining the continuity of knowledge of spent nuclear fuel copper canisters
- 2015
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Ingår i: Annals of Nuclear Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-4549 .- 1873-2100. ; 75, s. 219-227
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new approach to provide a long-term safeguards identification of spent nuclear fuel containers, in particular copper canisters, is presented in this paper. The approach proposes the use of a tungsten insert marked with a binary code and placed inside the container. The insert is read with a combination of two independent techniques, radiation and ultrasonic measurements, in order to get a unique identification of the cask. Passive and active versions of the tag are considered. The passive version makes use of the radiation coming from the spent nuclear fuel itself. The active version of the tag is based on the use of an artificially introduced mixture of α-emitting isotopes, such as 241Am with materials, 11B and 23Na, which easily undergo α-induced reactions with emission of specific γ-lines, 2313 keV and 1809 keV, respectively. The paper discusses results of the radiation and ultrasonic measurements and Monte-Carlo evaluations as the first proof of the concept. The results of the investigations show the strong potential for this concept to maintain the continuity of knowledge of spent nuclear fuel copper canisters for a time scale up to a few thousands years without compromising the environmental safety of the casks.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Chernikova, Dina, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Testing a direct method for evaluating the concentration of boron in a fuel pool using scintillation detectors, and a 252Cf and an 241Am-Be source
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceeding of ESARDA meeting 2013.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present investigations are aimed at the development and testing of a direct non-destructive method for evaluating the concentration of boron in a fuel pool using scintillation detectors. The method uses a modified ratio between two gamma lines with energy of 480 keV and 2.23 MeV. These lines belong to the capture of a thermal neutron in boron and hydrogen, respectively. The relation between them can reveal the concentration of boron in the fuel pond.The method proposed was tested in a laboratory experiment with a 252Cf and an 241Am-Be source. EJ-309 liquid scintillation detectors were used for measurements of gamma spectra. The concentration of boron in water varied from 1550 ppm to 4200 ppm. The optimization and test studies were performed via MCNPX simulations.The results of these tests are provided in the present paper and they show that the boron content in water can be determined through using the characteristics of gamma lines with energy of 480 keV and 2.23 MeV.
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| 9. |
- Chernikova, Dina, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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The neutron-gamma Feynman variance to mean approach: Gamma detection and total neutron-gamma detection (theory and practice)
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002. ; 782, s. 47-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two versions of the neutron gamma variance to mean (Feynman-alpha method or Feynman-Y function) formula for either gamma detection only or total neutron gamma detection, respectively, are derived and compared in this paper. The new formulas have particular importance for detectors of either gamma photons or deleclors sensitive to both neutron and gamma radialion. If applied to a plastic or liquid deleclor, he total neutron-gamma detection Feynman-Y expression corresponds Lo a situation where no discrimination is made between neutrons and gamma parlicles. The gamma variance Lo mean formulas are useful when a detector of only gamma radialion is used or when working with a combined neutron-gamma deleclor at high count rates. The theoretical derivation is based on the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation with the inclusion of general reactions and corresponding intensities for neutrons and gammas, but with the inclusion of prompt reactions only. A one energy group approximation is considered. The comparison of the two different theories is made by using reaction intensities obtained in MCNPX simulations with a simplified geometry for two scintillation detectors and a Cf-252-source. In addition, the variance to mean ratios, neutron, gamma and total neutron-gamma are evaluated experimentally for a weak Cf-252 neutron-gamma source, a Cs-137 random gamma source and a Na-22 correlated gamma source. Due to the focus being on the possibility of using neutron-gamma variance to mean theories for both reactor and safeguards applications, we limited the present study to the general analytical expressions for Feynman-alpha formulas.
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| 10. |
- Vesterlund, Anna, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of strong 241Am sources
- 2015
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Ingår i: Applied Radiation and Isotopes. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-8043 .- 1872-9800. ; 99, s. 162-167
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gamma ray spectra of strong 241Am sources may reveal information about the source composition as there may be other radioactive nuclides such as progeny and radioactive impurities present. In this work the possibility to use gamma spectrometry to identify inherent signatures in 241Am sources in order to differentiate sources from each other, is investigated. The studied signatures are age, i.e. time passed since last chemical separation, and presence of impurities. The spectra of some sources show a number of Doppler broadened peaks in the spectrum which indicate the presence of nuclear reactions on light elements within the sources. The results show that the investigated sources can be differentiated between by age and/or presence of impurities. These spectral features would be useful information in a national nuclear forensics library (NNFL) in cases when the visual information on the source, e.g. the source number, is unavailable.
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