Experimentally supported calculations of neutron fields and the resulting activities in spaces far from the reactor (EBENE)

Financed by:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant number 15S9447A)

Funding period:

2024/04/01 – 2027/09/30

Cooperation Partner:

• HZDR, Institute of Resource Ecology (coordinator)
• Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics
• PreussenElektra GmbH Hannover

People:

Maud Zilbermann (PhD student, FWOG), Astrid Barkleit (FWOG), Jörg Konheiser (project coordination, FWOR), Alexander Ponomarev (FWOR), n.n. (PhD student, FWOR)

Summary

The aim of the EBENE project is to use experimentally supported neutron fluence calculations to determine the assumed activities in the rooms outside the biological shield. This means that the neutron fluence calculation is rescaled on the basis of experimental values available from the recently finished project EMPRADO and the activation in the surrounding walls and components of the first loop is new determined with the adjusted values. Internationally recognized codes are used for the calculations. The models are validated by specific activation tests on reference sources.

To validate the results, concrete and steel samples will be taken from selected locations in a shutdown German NPP and the exact material composition and activity will be determined experimentally. If the calculations and measurements turn out to be in good agreement, this method could be complementary to the previous strategy of close-mesh sampling the rooms and could signify an enormous reduction in time and costs.

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