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Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
E. Goldberg, L. F. Hansen, T. T. Komoto, B. A. Pohl, R. J. Howerton, R. E. Dye, E. F. Plechaty, W. E. Warren
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 105 | Number 4 | August 1990 | Pages 319-340
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE90-A21468
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of the neutron and gamma-ray leakage spectra from 15 spherical target assemblies (carbon, nitrogen, H2O, C2F4, aluminum, silicon, titanium, iron, copper, tantalum, tungsten, gold, lead, 232Th, and 238U) pulsed with 14-MeV neutrons were made using time-of-flight techniques. The spheres were ∼30 g/cm2 thick to maximize the gamma-ray leakage per central source neutron. Among all the materials studied, silicon shows the highest conversion factor (∼2 γMeV/n), and lead the lowest (0.31 γMeV/n). Monte Carlo neutron-photon transport calculations were done using the TART and SANDYL codes, with the ENDL and ENDF/B-V libraries. Comparisons with the neutron measurements confirm earlier results, where both libraries reproduced the leakage spectra for most of these materials reasonably well. The gamma spectra calculated with ENDL give a fair representation of the measurements, with the exception of the initial calculations for 16O(H2O) and 19F(C2F4), where serious discrepancies are found. Improvements were obtained for 16O after a re-evaluation of the neutron-induced cross sections based on more recent microscopic experimental data. This was also the case for 19F, where the calculations now overestimate the measurements by 30%. Calculations with the ENDF/B-V are lower than the experimental measurements for most of the materials.