Dosimetry Evaluation of In-Core and Above-Core Zirconium Alloy Samples in a PWR

¹ Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Radiation Engineering & Analysis, Cranberry Township, PA 16066, USA
² Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Nuclear Fuel, Hopkins, SC 29061, USA
³ Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA

Published online: 3 February 2016

Abstract

A description of the neutron fluence analysis of activated zirconium alloys samples at a Westinghouse 3-loop reactor is presented. These samples were irradiated in the core and in the fuel plenum region, where dosimetry measurements are relatively rare compared with regions radially outward of the core. Dosimetry measurements performed by Batelle/PNNL are compared to the calculational models. Good agreement is shown with the in-core measurements when using analysis conditions expected to best represent this region, such as an assembly-specific axial power distribution. However, the use of these conditions to evaluate dosimetry in the fuel plenum region can lead to significant underestimation of the fluence. The use of a flat axial power distribution, however, does not underestimate the fluence in the fuel plenum region.