Calibration of large Photonis fission chambers in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor

Anatoly Kochetkov; Antonin Krása; Luc Borms; Edouard Malambu Mbala; Guido Vittiglio; Jan Wagemans; Jeroen Willems

doi:10.1109/TNS.2022.3144200

Calibration of large Photonis fission chambers in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor

Anatoly Kochetkov, Antonin Krása, Luc Borms, Edouard Malambu Mbala, Guido Vittiglio, Jan Wagemans, Jeroen Willems

Nuclear Systems Measurements

Research output › peer-review

Abstract

Small fission chambers manufactured by Photonis, Reuter-Stokes, CEA and Centronic are routinely calibrated in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor at SCK CEN in Mol, Belgium. Two irradiation fields are available: fast spectrum in the MARK3 convertor and thermal spectrum in the Empty Cavity. In this work, for the first time the calibration procedure of larger fission chambers (Photonis CFUL01 and CFUM21 type) with the deposit length exceeding the length of the convertor is presented. Spatial-energy correction factors taking into account the neutron flux shape beyond the convertor as well as radial gradient of the neutron flux were calculated with MCNP and experimentally validated. The combination of calibration (i.e. effective mass measurement) in fast and thermal irradiation fields allows for determination of the purity of the 238U deposit. This is demonstrated on three CFUL01 type fission chambers with purity between 99.8 % and 99.998 %.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	663 - 667
Number of pages	6
Journal	IEEE transactions on nuclear Science
Volume	69
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2022.3144200
State	Published - 18 Jan 2022

Access to Document

10.1109/TNS.2022.3144200License: Unspecified

Cite this

@article{6b447e4ce2df4505a9dd0e16522f353c,

title = "Calibration of large Photonis fission chambers in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor",

abstract = "Small fission chambers manufactured by Photonis, Reuter-Stokes, CEA and Centronic are routinely calibrated in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor at SCK CEN in Mol, Belgium. Two irradiation fields are available: fast spectrum in the MARK3 convertor and thermal spectrum in the Empty Cavity. In this work, for the first time the calibration procedure of larger fission chambers (Photonis CFUL01 and CFUM21 type) with the deposit length exceeding the length of the convertor is presented. Spatial-energy correction factors taking into account the neutron flux shape beyond the convertor as well as radial gradient of the neutron flux were calculated with MCNP and experimentally validated. The combination of calibration (i.e. effective mass measurement) in fast and thermal irradiation fields allows for determination of the purity of the 238U deposit. This is demonstrated on three CFUL01 type fission chambers with purity between 99.8 % and 99.998 %.",

keywords = "BR1 reactor, Calibration",

author = "Anatoly Kochetkov and Antonin Kr{\'a}sa and Luc Borms and {Malambu Mbala}, Edouard and Guido Vittiglio and Jan Wagemans and Jeroen Willems",

note = "Score=10",

year = "2022",

month = jan,

day = "18",

doi = "10.1109/TNS.2022.3144200",

language = "English",

volume = "69",

pages = "663 -- 667",

journal = "IEEE transactions on nuclear Science",

issn = "0018-9499",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Calibration of large Photonis fission chambers in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor

AU - Kochetkov, Anatoly

AU - Krása, Antonin

AU - Borms, Luc

AU - Malambu Mbala, Edouard

AU - Vittiglio, Guido

AU - Wagemans, Jan

AU - Willems, Jeroen

N1 - Score=10

PY - 2022/1/18

Y1 - 2022/1/18

N2 - Small fission chambers manufactured by Photonis, Reuter-Stokes, CEA and Centronic are routinely calibrated in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor at SCK CEN in Mol, Belgium. Two irradiation fields are available: fast spectrum in the MARK3 convertor and thermal spectrum in the Empty Cavity. In this work, for the first time the calibration procedure of larger fission chambers (Photonis CFUL01 and CFUM21 type) with the deposit length exceeding the length of the convertor is presented. Spatial-energy correction factors taking into account the neutron flux shape beyond the convertor as well as radial gradient of the neutron flux were calculated with MCNP and experimentally validated. The combination of calibration (i.e. effective mass measurement) in fast and thermal irradiation fields allows for determination of the purity of the 238U deposit. This is demonstrated on three CFUL01 type fission chambers with purity between 99.8 % and 99.998 %.

AB - Small fission chambers manufactured by Photonis, Reuter-Stokes, CEA and Centronic are routinely calibrated in standard neutron fields of the BR1 reactor at SCK CEN in Mol, Belgium. Two irradiation fields are available: fast spectrum in the MARK3 convertor and thermal spectrum in the Empty Cavity. In this work, for the first time the calibration procedure of larger fission chambers (Photonis CFUL01 and CFUM21 type) with the deposit length exceeding the length of the convertor is presented. Spatial-energy correction factors taking into account the neutron flux shape beyond the convertor as well as radial gradient of the neutron flux were calculated with MCNP and experimentally validated. The combination of calibration (i.e. effective mass measurement) in fast and thermal irradiation fields allows for determination of the purity of the 238U deposit. This is demonstrated on three CFUL01 type fission chambers with purity between 99.8 % and 99.998 %.

KW - BR1 reactor

KW - Calibration

UR - https://ecm.sckcen.be/OTCS/llisapi.dll/open/51031603

U2 - 10.1109/TNS.2022.3144200

DO - 10.1109/TNS.2022.3144200

M3 - Article

SN - 0018-9499

VL - 69

SP - 663

EP - 667

JO - IEEE transactions on nuclear Science

JF - IEEE transactions on nuclear Science

IS - 4

ER -