Zohreh Gholamzadeh; Reza Ebrahimzadeh; Mohammad Hossein Choopan Dastjerdi; Javad Mokhtari
Abstract
New nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) materials are being considered to use for neutron shielding especially for the positions which needs a flexible neutron shield. Such light, low-cost, and suitable material could be used for sealing of the gaps or even for shielding of low radiation environments. In ...
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New nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) materials are being considered to use for neutron shielding especially for the positions which needs a flexible neutron shield. Such light, low-cost, and suitable material could be used for sealing of the gaps or even for shielding of low radiation environments. In the present work, experimental investigation of NBR shielding performance of neutrons and gamma rays was proposed using the beam line of the Isfahan Miniature Neutron Source Reactor . MCNPX code was used to simulate the 30 kW research reactor beam line. Six NBR sheet with 2 cm thickness were used at the outlet of the beam line respectively to measure its neutron shielding as well as gamma shielding power on thickness. The experiment situations were modeled using the computational code. The obtained results showed the flexible and cheap material could be used as a good neutron shield while it acts as a very weak shield for gamma rays too. Also there is good conformity between simulation and experimental data with maximum 37% relative discrepancy.
Zohreh Gholamzadeh; Amir Pourrostam; Reza Ebrahimzadeh; Zeinab Naghshnejad
Abstract
In many human diseases and health cases, therapy of blood transfusion becomes necessary. In spite of the necessity, there are some risks associated with blood used in blood transfusion process. The TA-GVHD (transfusion-associated graft-versus-host-disease) is a problem when a blood transfusion occurs. ...
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In many human diseases and health cases, therapy of blood transfusion becomes necessary. In spite of the necessity, there are some risks associated with blood used in blood transfusion process. The TA-GVHD (transfusion-associated graft-versus-host-disease) is a problem when a blood transfusion occurs. The blood irradiation with gamma rays in blood bags can eliminate this risk. It should be mentioned that Co-60 sources are widely used for such blood irradiators. The present work investigates Co-60 production yield inside the external irradiation boxes of Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) using MCNPX code. 10-rod and 4-rod Co-59 assemblies were modeled at different external irradiation boxes to investigate their negative reactivity impact on TRR core as well Co-60 buildup rate during 3 years operation of the nuclear core at 4 MW power. The obtained results from MCNPX code showed a 4-rod assembly in linear form could obtain the highest specific activity (Ci.g-1) inside the external irradiation box faced to the core center. The computational results showed about 8 kCi of Co-60 is produced at the optimized irradiation position after 3 years TRR operation at 4 MW power.
Mahya Pazoki; Hamid Jafari; Zohreh Gholamzadeh
Abstract
Neutron data and cross-sections are highly regarded and are essential for developing nuclear equipment such as advanced fission and fusion reactors, accelerators, neutron shielding, physics studies, etc. The neutron cross-section should preferably be measured using a single-energy neutron beam, although ...
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Neutron data and cross-sections are highly regarded and are essential for developing nuclear equipment such as advanced fission and fusion reactors, accelerators, neutron shielding, physics studies, etc. The neutron cross-section should preferably be measured using a single-energy neutron beam, although the presence of a background in research reactors can affect its accurate determination. The Neutron Powder Diffraction (NPD) facility of Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) has been taken into consideration for measuring the neutron cross-section based on its properties, including neutron monochromator and multiple collimators. In this work, radiative capture cross-sections of Au, In, and Rh materials have been calculated using TRR monochromatic beam. MCNPX is a Monte Carlo particle transport code that has been applied to simulate the measurement system of the neutron cross-section and calculate the reaction rates. The effect of the presence and absence of different sections of the background on the cross-section values was investigated and the results were compared with EXFOR data library for validation. According to the findings, neutron backgrounds can have varying impacts depending on factors such as sample material, the isotope resonance regions, neutron source spatial distribution, and neutron monochromatic energy. However, the presence of fast neutron background contributes to the most uncertainty in the cross section values while its removal produces an average discrepancy from experimental libraries of 7.16%. Also, removing the cold neutron background also causes a relative difference equal to 7.65%.
Zohreh Gholamzadeh
Abstract
Simulation work provides valuable information on the behavior of different research reactor neutron analysis facilities. The present study considered neutron and secondary-gamma dose rate variations by applying a sapphire crystal inside the D channel in Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). The MCNPX computational ...
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Simulation work provides valuable information on the behavior of different research reactor neutron analysis facilities. The present study considered neutron and secondary-gamma dose rate variations by applying a sapphire crystal inside the D channel in Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). The MCNPX computational code was used to model the channel and its designed shield. Neutron and gamma dose rates distributions were calculated with a sapphire crystal modeling to investigate the neutron diffraction facility hall dose rates. The data from the dose rate simulations were compared with the experimental data available at a power of 4.2 MW from the research reactor. The comparison showed that there is very good conformity between two data series. The simulated neutron dose rate in front of the main shield overestimated the measurement data by 57% in closed-shutter situation and underestimated the measured data by 32% in open-shutter measurement situation. The investigation has shown that adjusting the crystal size to the channel size is considerably effective, especially at high leakage positions.
Zohreh Gholamzadeh; Ebrahim Abedi; Seyed Mohammad Mirvakili
Abstract
The management of high radioactive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from research and power reactors has become a key topic of discussion in the nuclear communities. Metal casks are used for the management and disposal of spent fuel and all types of radioactive waste worldwide. The spent fuel assemblies-contained ...
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The management of high radioactive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from research and power reactors has become a key topic of discussion in the nuclear communities. Metal casks are used for the management and disposal of spent fuel and all types of radioactive waste worldwide. The spent fuel assemblies-contained casks are stored in interim storage facilities. The present study aims to show the neutronic behavior and neutron/gamma dose rates of a designed hall for storage of the casks as a current technical, economic, safe and flexible solution, adaptable to any long and short-term SNF storage strategy. The hall structure was considered as ordinary concrete with an internal dimension of 5×6×5 m3. The concrete wall thickness was discussed to keep the dose rate limit of 10 μSv/h (neutron and gamma) at its external side when 25 casks are available inside the hall. ORIGEN and MCNPX computational codes were used to model the storage hall contained 25 Tehran Research Reactor spent fuel casks. The carried out calculations showed 30 cm thickness would fulfil total gamma and neutron dose rate limitation after the external surface of the concrete wall. When the hall contains 25 casks (any contains 16 55%-burnup 10-years cooled spent fuel assembly), maximum gamma and neutron dose rates at the external surface of the hall are 3.45 nSv/h and 3.45 μSv/h, respectively. In addition, the carried out calculations showed natural circulation of air could powerfully remove the deposited heat of neutron and gamma rays.
Zohreh Gholamzadeh; Rohollah Adeli; Mahdi Keivani
Abstract
Routine gamma dosimetry of spent fuels in nuclear power stations is mandatory to manage their storage in dry or wet spent fuel storages. Mostly the spent fuel gamma dose rate measurements out of the spent fuel pool is impossible because of the high exposures of the operators. Therefore, ...
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Routine gamma dosimetry of spent fuels in nuclear power stations is mandatory to manage their storage in dry or wet spent fuel storages. Mostly the spent fuel gamma dose rate measurements out of the spent fuel pool is impossible because of the high exposures of the operators. Therefore, determination of a conversion factor as precise as possible is important that could be applied to convert the measured gamma dose rate inside the water shield to the air values. Simulation methods are powerfully applied to investigate the conversion factor variation trends due to different burnup, cooling time and irradiation history of the spent fuels. The present work uses MCNPX Monte Carlo-based code to determine the trend. The obtained results of this computational study showed that the conversion factor would not have any dependency to the cooling times, burnup values and irradiation history if the detector is placed at special positions in air or water environments. Comparison of the simulation and experimental data showed an acceptable conformity, so that the experimental verified the simulation data trend
Zohreh Gholamzadeh; Atieh JozVaziri
Abstract
Thorium is more abundant in nature than uranium. The fertile thorium fuel can breed to fissile U-233 by absorbing a neutron. The produced fissile has good neutronic performance in both thermal and fast neutron spectra. Many types of thorium-based fuels were applied ...
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Thorium is more abundant in nature than uranium. The fertile thorium fuel can breed to fissile U-233 by absorbing a neutron. The produced fissile has good neutronic performance in both thermal and fast neutron spectra. Many types of thorium-based fuels were applied in different nuclear reactors. Also natural thorium oxide is used as seed/blanket configuration that the ThO2 rods are used in the outer sections of any fuel assembly. The present study aims to investigate the ThO2 fuel rod loading in 3000 MW VVER-1000 power reactor. MCNPX and ORIGEN codes were used to evaluate its effects on the core neutronic. In addition, the gamma emission rates of ThO2 spent fuel than the UO2 routine fuel of VVER-1000 was investigated. The obtained results of the computational study showed the ThO2 fuel rod loading in some VVER-1000 fuel assemblies would not end to a breeding behavior of the reactor core even after one-year burnup at 3000 MW power. However, the enriched uranium fuel loading reduction may make a motivation for thorium fuel application in the power reactor.
Zohreh Gholamzadeh; Mohadeseh Gholshanian; Seyed Mohammad Mirvakili
Abstract
Today thorium based fuels are being investigated as an alternative fuel technology. However, the majority of thorium fuel research studies are limited to reactor physics investigations, which leaves a gap for dose evaluation and shielding concerns of such spent fuels. The present work investigates thorium ...
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Today thorium based fuels are being investigated as an alternative fuel technology. However, the majority of thorium fuel research studies are limited to reactor physics investigations, which leaves a gap for dose evaluation and shielding concerns of such spent fuels. The present work investigates thorium oxide fuel assemblies in Tehran research reactor. The fuel gamma dose rates are calculated at different burnups and cooling times. A comparison between the reactor routine fuel and the thorium oxide fuel is conducted to reveal the thorium-based fuel application shielding challenges. The obtained results showed that inverse to U3O8-Al routine fuel the spent ThO2 gamma dose rates are completely dependent to the burnup values. In addition, for transporting the spent ThO2 fuel with the routine transport casks there is needed to be waited for the higher cooling times than U3O8-Al transportation time or construction of thicker transport casks is needed for transportation of the thorium-based spent fuels at shorter times.
