Consideration of Neutron Flux Gradients for Sophisticated Evaluation of Irradiation Experiments

A joint Russian/German irradiation experiment was performed at the pressurized water reactor VVER 2 of the Rheinsberg NPP (Germany). The experiment comprises about 800 Charpy V-notch, SENB and CT specimens made from 24 different heats of Russian type RPV base and weld metals.
Comprehensive calculations of the neutron fluence were carried out. A multigroup Monte Carlo method allows the calculation of the neutron fluence of each specimen or of different points within a large specimen under consideration of the details of the geometric arrangement. As the calculations shown the neutron fluence considerably varies over the cross section of an irradiation rig. Therefore, influence of the flux gradients on testing of Charpy V-notch and CT-specimens is evaluated.
Methods taking into account a fluence correction of the measured absorbed energies are presented and discussed