Study of concrete activation with IFMIF-like neutron irradiation: Status of EAF and TENDL neutron activation cross-sections

Mauricio García,Javier Sanz,Patrick Sauvan,Francisco Ogando,Raquel García,A Plompen,S Kopecky,W Mondelaers,S Oberstedt,P Schillebeeckx,F.-J Hambsch,P Siegler,J Heyse

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201714609037

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to check the performance of last versions of EAF and TENDL libraries (EAF2007, EAF2010, and TENDL2014) in the prediction of concrete activation under the neutron irradiation environment expected in IFMIF, an accelerator-based neutron source conceived for fusion materials testing. For this purpose Activity and dose rate responses of three types of concrete (ITER-Bioshield kind, barite and magnetite concretes) have been studied. For these quantities, dominant nuclides and production pathways have been determined and, then, a qualitative analysis of the relevant activation cross-sections involved has been performed by comparing data from mentioned libraries with experimental data from EXFOR database. Concrete activation studies have been carried out with IFMIF-like neutron irradiation conditions using the ACAB code and EAF and TENDL libraries. The cooling times assessed are related to safety and maintenance operations, specifically 1 hour, 1 day and 12 days. Final conclusions are focused on the recommendations for the activation library to be used among those analyzed and cross-section data to be improved.

Highlights

An accurate prediction of the activation-related magnitudes is essential in order to plan safety and maintenance activities in fusion-related facilities
We address a preliminary study focused on the status of the EAF 2007 [3], EAF 2010 [4] and TENDL 2014 [5] activation libraries for the concrete activation at the most exposed area of test cell area of IFMIF
The objective is to assess the reliability of these libraries in the prediction of the Activity and Contact Dose Rate (CDR) as well as to provide some recommendations about the most suitable library to be used in this facility for this kind of assessments

Summary

Introduction

An accurate prediction of the activation-related magnitudes is essential in order to plan safety and maintenance activities in fusion-related facilities. To this paper, we have evaluated the reliability of the relevant activation cross-sections for the calculation of the Shutdown Dose Rate (SDDR) in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) [1, 2]. The objective is to assess the reliability of these libraries in the prediction of the Activity and Contact Dose Rate (CDR) as well as to provide some recommendations about the most suitable library to be used in this facility for this kind of assessments. analyzes the status of the activation cross-section data from EAF2007, EAF2010 and TENDL2014 libraries for the most relevant pathways by means of a comparison with experimental data from EXFOR [6] using JANIS [7] software. provide general recommendations about the activation library to be used for concrete activation in IFMIF as well as a list of the cross-sections to be updated with priority

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion