• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2019-2028
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• 2024

Advanced nuclear reactors, especially the newly developed small and micro-reactors have complex neutron spectrum, which makes the deterministic reactor core calculations sensitive to the energy group structure of few-group cross-sections. To avoid significantly increasing the cost of energy discretization in the core calculation, two energy group structures with 31 groups and 33 groups were adopted for typical thermal and fast reactor cores, respectively. Then, an adaptive scheme of group division for reactor cores with a medium neutron spectrum was proposed. The works were based on the full spectrum nuclear reactor analysis code SARAX/TULIP. An equivalent one-dimensional model of the core was proposed to capture the key neutron spectrum features of the reactor core. Such features were used to adaptively determine a few-group structure for the following reactor core calculations. Then, the neutron spectrum in different zones with more details was calculated. With this spectrum, the cross-sections were condensed into the determined energy groups. Three tests based on different neutron spectrum were calculated to verify the schemes. The results show that using the adaptive energy group division scheme, the following core calculation can meet the accuracy requirement of different reactors with different neutron spectra.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.423-429
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• 2021

The investigation of the utilization of enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as a coolant to enhance the performance of a long-life fast reactor with a Modified CANDLE (Constant Axial shape of Neutron flux, nuclide densities, and power shape During Life of Energy production) burnup scheme has performed. The analyzes were performed on a reactor with thermal power of 800 MegaWatt Thermal (MWTh) with a refueling process every 15 years. Uranium Nitride (enriched ¹⁵N), ²⁰⁸Pb, and High-Cr martensitic steel HT-9 were employed as fuel, coolant, and cladding materials, respectively. One of the Pb-nat isotopes, ²⁰⁸Pb, has the smallest neutron capture cross-section (0.23 mb) among other liquid metal coolants. Furthermore, the neutron-producing cross-section (n, 2n) of ²⁰⁸Pb is larger than sodium (Na). On the other hand, the inelastic scattering energy threshold of ²⁰⁸Pb is the highest among Na, ^natPb, and Bi. The small inelastic scattering cross-section of ²⁰⁸Pb can harden the neutron energy spectrum. Therefore, ²⁰⁸Pb is a better neutron multiplier than any other liquid metal coolant. The excess neutrons cause more production than consumption of ²³⁹Pu. Hence, it can reduce the initial fuel loading of the reactor. The selective photoreaction process was developing to obtain enriched ²⁰⁸Pb. The neutronic was calculated using SRAC and JENDL 4.0 as a nuclear data library. We obtained that the modified CANDLE reactor with enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as coolant and reflector has the highest k-eff among all reactors. Meanwhile, the ^natPb cooled reactor has the lowest k-eff. Thus, the utilization of the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb as the coolant can reduce reactor initial fuel loading. Moreover, the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb-cooled reactor has the smallest power peaking factor among all reactors. Therefore, the enriched ²⁰⁸Pb can enhance the performance of a long-life Modified CANDLE fast reactor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.46-61
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• 2001

The neutron cross sections of $^{160}$ Dy, $^{161}$ Dy, $^{162}$ Dy, $^{l63}$Dy, and $^{164}$ Dy have been evaluated in the resonance region of which upper energy is set to several tens of keV. The cross sections are formulated with resonance parameters in the energy region under consideration. In the resolved resonance region, the positive-energy resonance parameters were adopted from the BNL compilation published in 1984 with slight, if any, modifications. A bound level resonance for each isotope except $^{162}$ Dy was invoked to reproduce the reference 2200 m/s cross sections and the bound coherent scattering length. Subsequently, the statistical behavior of the resolved resonance parameters was analyzed, and thus obtained s-wave average parameters were adopted in the unresolved resonance region. In addition, recent measurements of the capture cross sections in the unresolved region were taken into account in adjusting the average resonance parameters for high orbital angular momentum resonances. The present evaluation resulted in large improvements in the cross sections over the ENDF/B-Vl release 6.6.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2717-2724
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• 2020

Silicon, especially silicon in the form of SiO₂, is a major component of rocks. Final spent fuel storages, which are being designed, are located in suitable rock formations in the Earth's crust. Reduction of the uncertainty of silicon neutron scattering and capture is needed; improved silicon evaluations have been recently produced by the ORNL/IAEA collaboration within the INDEN project. This paper deals with the nuclear data validation of that evaluation performed at the LR-0 reactor by means of critical experiments and measurement of reaction rates. Large amounts of silicon were used both as pure crystalline silicon and SiO₂ sand. The critical moderator level was measured for various core configurations. Reaction rates were determined in the largest core configuration. Simulations of the experimental setup were performed using the MCNP6.2 code. The obtained results show the improvement in silicon cross-sections in the INDEN evaluations compared to existing evaluations in major libraries. The new Thermal Scattering Law for SiO₂ published in ENDF/B-VIII.0 additionally reduces the discrepancy between calculation and experiments. However, an unphysical peak is visible in the neutron spectrum in SiO₂ obtained by calculation with the new Thermal Scattering Law.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 1989

The correction factor of neutron fraction absorbed by $^{55}$ Mn in the MnSO$_4$ bath was determined for the absolute measurement of neutron emission rate by using the solution circulation-type manganese sulfate bath system. For the determination of this correction factor, I/f, the atomic number desnsity and the effective neutron capture cross section data of Mn, S and impurity elements in the MnSO$_4$ solution were determined. For the atomic number density determination, the MnSO$_4$ solution concentration was determined by using the volumetric EDTA titration and gravimetric method. The impurity contents were analyzed by using the ICP method. For the calculation of effective neutron capture cross sections, a FORTRAN computer program EASCAL was developed in this study. in which Westcott's parameters and Axton's empirical relations are used.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.209-214
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• 2023

The effect of thermal annealing on defect recovery of in-core neutron-irradiated 4H-SiC was investigated. Au/SiC Schottky diodes were manufactured using a 4H-SiC epitaxial wafer that was neutron-irradiated at the HANARO research reactor. The electrical characteristics of their epitaxial layers were analyzed under various conditions, including different neutron fluences (1.3 × 10¹⁷ and 2.7 × 10¹⁷ neutrons/cm²) and annealing times (up to 2 h at 1700 ℃). Capacity-voltage measurements showed high carrier compensation in the neutron-irradiated samples and a recovery tendency that increased with annealing time. The carrier density could be recovered up to 77% of the bare sample. Deep-level-transient spectroscopy revealed intrinsic defects of 4H-SiC with energy levels 0.47 and 0.68 eV below the conduction-band edge, which were significantly increased by in-core neutron irradiation. A previously unknown defect with a high electron-capture cross-section was discovered at 0.36 eV below the conduction-band edge. All defect concentrations decreased with 1700 ℃ annealing; the decrease was faster when the defect level was shallow.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2022

In this research, curium oxide (CmO₂) is studied as fuel for VVER-1200 reactor to get an attention to its energy value and possibilities. For this purpose, CmO₂ is used in fuel rods or integrated burnable absorber (IBA) rods with and without UO₂ and then compared with the conventional fuel assembly of VVER-1200 reactor. It is burned to 60 GWd/t by using SRAC-2006 code and JENDL-4.0 data library. From these studies, it is found that CmO₂ is competent like UO₂ as a fuel due to higher fission cross-section of ²⁴³Cm and ²⁴⁵Cm isotopes and neutron capture cross-section of ²⁴⁴Cm and ²⁴⁶Cm isotopes. As a result, when some or all of the UO₂ of fuel rods or IBA rods are replaced by CmO₂, we get a similar k-inf like the reference even with lower enrichment UO₂ fuels. These studies show that the use of CmO₂ as IBA rods is more effective than the fuel rods considering the initially loaded amount, power peaking factor (PPF), fuel temperature and void coefficient, and the quality of spent fuel. From a detailed study, 3% CmO₂ with inert material ZrO₂ in IBA rods are recommended for the VVER-1200 reactor assembly from the once through concept.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 1974

The cross-section ratios of the nuclear isomeric pairs $^{80}$ B $r^{m, g}$, sup 81/S $e^{m, g}$, $^{104}$ R $h^{m, g}$, $^{116}$ I $n^{m, g}$ and $^{134}$ C $s^{m, g}$ through the radiative thermal neutron capture process have been studied. The experimental values of these ratios obtained by the activation method have been compared with the calculated ones deduced from the modified Huizenga-Vandenbosch method. Agreement between these values within 30% could be attained by controlling the spin cut-off parameter and gamma-ray multiplicity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3516-3525
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• 2022

The high capture cross-section (𝜎_c) of Gadolinium (Gd-155 and Gd-157) causes reactivity penalty and swing at the initial stage of fuel burnup in Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). The present study is concerned with the feasibility of the combination of mixed burnable poison with both low and high 𝜎_c as an approach to minimize these effects. Two considered reference designs are fuel assemblies with 24 IBA rods of Gd₂O₃ and Er₂O₃ respectively. Models comprise nuclear fuel with a homogeneous mixture of Er₂O₃, AmO₂, SmO₂, and HfO₂ with Gd₂O₃ as well as the coating of PaO₂ and ZrB₂ on the Gd₂O₃ pellet's outer surface. The infinite multiplication factor was determined and reactivity was calculated considering 3% neutron leakage rate. All models except Er₂O₃ and SmO₂ showed expected results namely higher values of these parameters than the reference design of Gd₂O₃ at the early burnup period. The highest value was found for the model of PaO₂ and Gd₂O₃ followed by ZrB₂ and HfO₂. The cycle burnup, discharge burnup, and cycle length for three batch refueling were calculated using Linear Reactivity Model (LRM). The pin power distribution, energy-dependent neutron flux and Fuel Temperature Coefficient (FTC) were also studied. An optimization of model 1 was carried out to investigate effects of different isotopic compositions of Gd₂O₃ and absorber coating thickness.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 1997

PHWR achieves high neutron economy by adopting heavy water as its moderator and coolant. On the other hand it permits much tritium generation, compared to LWR, due to the neutron capture reaction of deuterium in heavy water. Meanwhile in the reactor core, $^3He formed as the result of-decay of tritium, captures a thermal neutron and transforms to tritium again. The existing calculation models on tritium generation in PHWR neglect the contribution of $^3He$ in both moderator and coolant due to its relatively low solubility. However the neutron capture cross-section of $^3He$ is almost $1.6{\times}10^7$ times as large as that of deuterium. That means that the dissolved amount of 0.03 ppm of $^3He$ in heavy water is enough to generate the same amount of tritium as that generated by the deuterium of total heavy water in the system. This study dealt with the contribution of $^3He$ to tritium generation. As a sample case, the contribution of $^3He$ to the tritium generation in Wolsong #1 was evaluated and compared to the measured values. According to the result of this study, it is concluded that $^3He$ in coolant contributes very much to the tritium generation but that in moderator shows negligible effects due to the low solubility and $^4He$ cover gas. At the beginning of the plant operation, the contribution of $^3He$ is slightly greater than the measured value but agrees well with the measured as the operating time increases.