Open issues in reactor dosimetry

Abstract

The need for more energy in a worldwide scope, as well as the necessity to reduce emission, diversification of energy sources and to preserve the environment equilibrium has renewed the expectations of nuclear energy. Programmes for construction of 3rd and 4th generation reactors, modernization of existing nuclear power plants (NPP), and plant life extension are being developed worldwide. Reactor dosimetry plays an important role within all these activities. Most important, it is an essential safety parameter for the assessment of the degradation during operation of structural materials undergoing irradiation in both research and power reactors. This paper reviews and summarizes the open issues that today’s experts consider as the key ones in the reactor dosimetry field. The present paper is based on workshop discussions held in Akersloot, in May 2008, as part of the 13th international symposium on reactor dosimetry. The discussions were focused on the following topics: Reactor surveillance, nuclear data for dosimetry cross-sections, retrospective dosimetry and decommissioning data, neutron and gamma-ray transport calculations, need for benchmarks, radiation damage correlations, and reactor dosimetry for next generation reactors, fusion and high-energy neutron sources. One particular common aspect deserves to be mentioned here. The harmonization among the countries operating NPPs in terms of calculation approaches, measurement techniques, and adjustment procedures should be of high priority. Only then, the NPP end-of-life prediction and its reliability can be substantially improved. This activity has to be based on the exchange of experiences, inter-comparisons, joint experiments, and calculations.