Determination of dose rate during the inspection of spent fuel element in the testing cell

Amr Abdelhady

doi:10.15392/bjrs.v8i3.1238

Abstract

Testing cell a hot cell is responsible for inspecting the spent fuel elements in open pool type reactor. Because the spent fuel elements examination in the testing cell would result in rising in radiation dose level, a previous precaution should be estimated to ensuring the radiation protection safety and the prevention of radiation hazard for the workers during the process. The most efficient precaution against these kinds of work is the estimation of the predicted radiation dose level around the hot cell during the inspection process. In this regard, a MCNP model was performed to simulate the spent fuel element inspection inside the hot cell to estimate the radiation dose level around the testing cell during the process. The dose rate, during the inspection of the spent fuel element, would be estimated at different decay times for different burn-up. The calculations show that the minimal decay times required to manipulating the spent fuel element would range between 120 to 270 days for burn-up ranging between 18745 and 101224.4 MWD/TU.

Highlights

Testing cell is a multi-purpose hot cell in open pool type reactor and one of its important purposes is inspecting the spent fuel elements due to the high radioactivity associated with them [1]
MCNP5 [2] model was performed to simulate the irradiated fuel element inside the hot cell to carry out the relationship between the dose rate outside the cell with the decay time for different burn up of FE
Dose rate was calculated for spent FE with the maximum discharge of burn-up (270 days) because it represents the majority of the spent FEs

Summary

Introduction

Testing cell is a multi-purpose hot cell in open pool type reactor and one of its important purposes is inspecting the spent fuel elements due to the high radioactivity associated with them [1]. Inspecting fuel element may result in rising the radiation dose rate level around the testing cell depending on its burn-up (BU) and decay time. The calculation would introduce a relationship between the dose rate and the decay time of the inspected fuel element for different burn-up. This relationship would determine the corresponding decay times that verify the radiological safety condition for the worker located outside the cell. MCNP5 [2] model was performed to simulate the irradiated fuel element inside the hot cell to carry out the relationship between the dose rate outside the cell with the decay time for different burn up of FE

Objectives

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Conclusion