Shielding and activation calculations for the FASTEF-MYRRHA ADS design in the subcritical operation mode


Shielding and activation calculations for the FASTEF-MYRRHA ADS design in the subcritical operation mode

Ferrari, A.; Di Maria, S.; Sarotto, M.; Stankovskiy, A.

Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) are one of the options studied for transmutation of nuclear waste in the European Community. The present study has been done in the frame of the FP7 European project Central Design Team (CDT), which in the years 2009-2012 worked to design the FAst Spectrum Transmutation Experimental Facility (FASTEF) with the goal to demonstrate efficient transmutation of high level waste and associated ADS technology. On this design will be based the MYRRHA reactor at SCK•CEN in Mol (Belgium), which should enter the construction phase in 2015. The heart of the system is a lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) cooled reactor, working both in critical and in sub-critical operation modes. The neutrons needed to sustain fission in the subcritical mode are produced via spallation processes by a 600 MeV, 4 mA proton beam, which is provided by a linear accelerator and hits a LBE spallation target located inside the reactor core. The use of high energy/high current proton beams, in combination with a nuclear reactor core operating in subcritical or critical mode, presents many challenges for various aspects of the design, being radiation shielding and minimization of the induced activation key points.

Keywords: Accelerator Driven Systems; Reactor safety; Monte Carlo; Shielding

  • Contribution to proceedings
    2013 ANS Winter Meeting, Session "Best of ICRS/RSPD 2012" (invited), 10.-14.11.2013, Washington, DC, USA
    Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Volume 109, La Grange Park, Illinois: American Nuclear Society, ISSN:0003-018X, 1249-1251

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-18923
Publ.-Id: 18923