• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.233-246
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• 2023

In terms of understanding the water cycle and efficient water resource management, the importance of soil moisture has been highlighted. However, in Korea, the lack of qualified in-situ soil moisture data results in very limited utility. Even if satellite-based data are applied, the absence of ground reference data makes objective evaluation and correction difficult. The cosmic-ray neutron probe (CRNP) can play a key role in producing data for satellite data calibration. The installation of CRNP is non-invasive, minimizing damage to the soil and vegetation environment, and has the advantage of having a spatial representative for the intermediate scale. These characteristics are advantageous to establish an observation network in Korea which has lots of mountainous areas with dense vegetation. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of the CRNP soil moisture observatory in Korea as part of the establishment of a Korean cOsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System (KOSMOS). The CRNP observation station was installed with the Gunup-ri observation station, considering the ease of securing power and installation sites and the efficient use of other hydro-meteorological factors. In order to evaluate the CRNP soil moisture data, 12 additional in-situ soil moisture sensors were installed, and spatial representativeness was evaluated through a temporal stability analysis. The neutrons generated by CRNP were found to be about 1,087 counts per hour on average, which was lower than that of the Solmacheon observation station, indicating that the Hongcheon observation station has a more humid environment. Soil moisture was estimated through neutron correction and early-stage calibration of the observed neutron data. The CRNP soil moisture data showed a high correlation with r=0.82 and high accuracy with root mean square error=0.02 m³/m³ in validation with in-situ data, even in a short calibration period. It is expected that higher quality soil moisture data production with greater accuracy will be possible after recalibration with the accumulation of annual data reflecting seasonal patterns. These results, together with previous studies that verified the excellence of CRNP soil moisture data, suggest that high-quality soil moisture data can be produced when constructing KOSMOS.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.219-230
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• 1974

The previous expression for the diffracted neutron intensity by a highly oriented polycrystalline is modified using the Kunitomi's formula of the crystal reflectivity The method of studying the preferred orientation in metals with white neutron is proposed utilizing the above formula and the fact that the real position of the diffraction of certain grain in the sample can be found by the comparison of the smaller angle part of the maxwellian curve of the calculated intensity of neutrons diffracted and the experimenal curves. The most probable wavelength of thermal neutrons from the reactor is found by the measurement of the neutron spectrum with the correction for the crystal about the multiple reflection and the absorption of neutrons and turned out to be 1.025 $\pm$ 0.001$\AA$. The preferred orientations of some electric steel sheets, mostly with the cube-on-face orientations, are investigated by the present method. The orientations of most grains relative to the rolling directions are found to be within 5 degrees. It is found the most of theories for large crystals may be extended to highly oriented polycrystalline materials without extensive modification.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.271-278
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• 2010

While the deterministic lattice physics/depletion codes use leakage-corrected critical spectrum (although approximate due to the B1 buckling search employed), Monte Carlo depletion codes currently in use do not have such a feature in spite of their heterogeneity and continuous-energy modeling capability. This paper describes an approach to Monte Carlo depletion with leakage-corrected critical spectrum derived from first principles. This is based on the concept of albedo eigenvalue treated as weight of the reflected neutron in Monte Carlo simulation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1587-1592
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• 2023

Time-encoded imagers (TEI) are important class of instruments to search for potential radioactive sources to prevent illicit transportation and trafficking of nuclear materials and other radioactive sources. The energy of the radiation cannot be known in advance due to the type and shielding of source is unknown in practice. However, the response function of the time-encoded imagers is related to the energy of neutrons or gamma-rays. An improved image reconstruction method based on MLEM was proposed to correct for the energy induced response difference. In this method, the count vector versus time was first smoothed. Then, the preset response function was adaptively corrected according to the measured counts. Finally, the smoothed count vector and corrected response were used in MLEM to reconstruct the source distribution. A one-dimensional dual-particle time-encode imager was developed and used to verify the improved method through imaging an Am-Be neutron source. The improvement of this method was demonstrated by the image reconstruction results. For gamma-ray and neutron images, the angular resolution improved by 17.2% and 7.0%; the contrast-to-noise ratio improved by 58.7% and 14.9%; the signal-to-noise ratio improved by 36.3% and 11.7%, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.462-468
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• 2022

The selection and effective utilization of peak-fitting software for conventional gamma-ray spectrum analysis is significant for accurate determination of the mass fraction of elements, particularly in complex peak regions. Majority of the peak-fitting programs can derive similar peak characteristics for singlet peaks, but very few programs can deconvolute multi-peaks in a complex region. The deconvolution of multi-peaks requires special peak-fitting functions, such as left and right-skew distributions. In the this study, 843.76 keV (²⁷Mg) peak area from the complex region (840 keV-850 keV) determined and compared using four different peak-fitting programs, namely, GammaVision, Genie2000, HyperLab, and HyperGam. The 843.76 keV peak interfered with 841.63 keV (^152mEu) and 846.81 keV (⁵⁶Mn). The total Mg concentration was determined through k₀-instrumental neutron activation analysis by applying the isotopic interference correction factor ²⁷Al(n,p)²⁷Mg through the simultaneous determination of Al concentration. HyperLab and HyperGam peak-fitting programs reported consistent peak areas, and resultant concentrations agreed with the certified values of matrix-certified reference materials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2221-2229
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• 2022

In this research, for improving the measurement performance of Prompt Gamma-ray Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) set-up, a new optimization method for set-up design was proposed and investigated. At first, the calculation method for Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) was proposed. Since the SNR could be calculated and quantified accurately, the SNR was chosen as the evaluation parameter in the new optimization method. For discussing the feasibility of the SNR optimization method, two kinds of PGNAA set-ups were designed in the MCNP code, based on the SNR optimization method and the previous signal optimization method, respectively. Meanwhile, the single element spectra analysis method was proposed, and the analysis effect of single element spectra as well as element sensitivity were used for comparing the measurement performance. Since the simulation results showed the better measurement performance of set-up designed by SNR optimization method, the experimental set-ups were built for the further testing, finally demonstrating the feasibility of the SNR optimization method for PGNAA setup design.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.240-244
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• 2000

The three-dimensional orientation distribution function of a conical shaped tungsten liner prepared by the thermo-mechanical forming process was analyzed by 1.525$\AA$ neutrons to carry out the Rietveld refinement. The pole figure data of three reflections, (110)(220) and (211) were measured. The orientation distribution functions for the normal and radial directions were calculated by the WIMV method. The inverse pole figures of the normal and radial directions were obtained from their orientation distribution functions. The Rietveld refinement was performed with the RIETAN program that was slightly modified for the description of preferred orientation effect. We could successfully do the Rietveld refinement of the strongly textured tungsten liner by applying the pole density of each reflection obtained from the inverse pole figure to the calculated diffraction pattern. The correction method of preferred orientation effect based on the inverse pole figures showed a good improvement over the semi-empirical texture correction based on the direct usage of simple empirical functions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.252-262
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• 1992

The intent of this study is to develop an efficient calculation method which can be used to analyze the heterogeneous time-dependent reactor problems. By using the nodal theory one can not only reduce the calculational efforts, but accurately determine the group dependent flux densities averaged over the entire homogeneous nodes. This method uses correction factors(called“discontinuity factors”) in a rigorous manner to obtain the relationship between the node-averaged flux and the surface-averaged fluxes and currents. The discontinuity factors are calculated from the node-averaged fluxes, diffusion coefficients, and the discontinuity factors of the previous time step. The test results for two benchmark problems demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method developed for the transient application in which assembly-size nodes can be used.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.1195-1208
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• 2019

This paper introduces a new two-step procedure for PWR depletion analyses. This procedure adopts the albedo-corrected parameterized equivalence constants (APEC) method to correct the lattice-based raw cross sections (XSs) and discontinuity factors (DFs) by accounting for neutron leakage. The intrinsic limitations of the conventional two-step methods are discussed by analyzing a 2-dimensional SMR with the commercial DeCART2D/MASTER code system. For a full-scope development of the APEC correction, the MASTER nodal code was modified so that the group constants can be corrected in the middle of a microscopic core depletion. The basic APEC methodology is described and color-set problems are defined to determine the APEC functions for burnup-dependent XS and DF corrections. Then the new two-step method was applied to depletion analyses of the SMR without thermal feedback, and its validity was evaluated in terms of being able to predict accurately the reactor eigenvalue and nodal power profile. In addition, four variants of the original SMR core were also analyzed for a further evaluation of the APEC-assisted depletion. In this work, several combinations of the burnup-dependent and -independent XS and DF corrections were also considered. The results show that the APEC method could enhance the nodal equivalence significantly with inexpensive additional costs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2317-2323
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• 2024

Medical linear accelerators with an energy of 8 MV or higher are radiated owing to photonuclear reactions and neutron capture reactions. It is necessary to quantitatively evaluate the concentration of radioactive isotopes when replacing or disposing them. HPGe detectors are commonly used to identify isotopes and measure radioactivity. However, because the detection efficiency is generally calibrated using a standard material with a density of 1.0 g/cm³, a self-absorption effect occurs if the density of the measured material is high. In this study, self-absorption correction factors were calculated for tungsten, lead, copper, and SUS-303, which are the main materials of medical linear accelerator head parts, for each gamma-ray energy using MCNP 6.2 code. The self-absorption effect was more pronounced as the energy of the emitted gamma rays decreased and the density of the measured materials increased. These correction factors were applied to the radioactivity measurements of the in-built and portable HPGe detectors. Furthermore, compared to the surface dose rate measured by the survey meter, the accuracy of the measurements of radioactivity improved by an average of 124.31 and 100.53 % for inbuilt and portable HPGe detectors, respectively. The results showed a good agreement, with an average difference of 3.70 and 5.24 %.