Issue |
EPJ Web Conf.
Volume 247, 2021
PHYSOR2020 – International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future
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Article Number | 08014 | |
Number of page(s) | 8 | |
Section | Research Reactors and Facilities | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124708014 | |
Published online | 22 February 2021 |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124708014
HIGHLY LOCALIZED AZIMUTHAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE CROCUS REACTOR TOWARDS THE VALIDATION OF HIGH-FIDELITY NEUTRONICS CODES
1 École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
2 Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Email: fanny.vitullo@epfl.ch
vincent.lamirand@epfl.ch
Published online: 22 February 2021
Highly localized in-core measurements are necessary for the validation of neutron transport calculations with high spatial resolution. In the present work, a miniature neutron detector developed at EPFL in collaboration with PSI was used to carry out a set of thermal neutrons counting measurements in the zero-power CROCUS reactor core within a spatial range in order of mm. The miniature detector, positioned close to the core reflector, shows a gradient of +(4.29 ± 0.10)% in the count rate profile in the radial direction within 1.3 cm, with higher values pointing towards the core reflector because of the higher share of neutrons in the thermal range. On the contrary, in a control rod guide tube the count rate gradient is -(4.37 ± 0.10)% and it is directed towards the core center. The measured values are compared with the azimuthal trend of the normalized 6Li reaction rate calculated with an iterative three-steps method performed with the Monte Carlo code Serpent 2. These measurements proved the feasibility of resolving spatial effects in the mm-range and they represent a basis for further investigating highly spatially-resolved phenomena in the CROCUS core.
Key words: azimuthal flux measurements / CROCUS zero-power research reactor / micro-reactor physics / miniature neutron detector
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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