TY - GEN
T1 - Detector positioning for the initial subcriticality level determination in accelerator-driven systems
AU - Uyttenhove, Wim
AU - Van den Eynde, Gert
AU - Baeten, Peter
AU - Kochetkov, Anatoly
AU - Vittiglio, Guido
AU - Wagemans, Jan
AU - Lathouwers, Danny
AU - Kloosterman, J. L.
AU - Van Der Hagen, Tim H.J.J.
AU - Wols, Frank
AU - Billebaud, Annick
AU - Chabod, Sébastien
AU - Thybault, H. E.
AU - Lecouey, Jean-Luc
AU - Ban, Gilles M.
AU - Lecolley, François-René
AU - Marie, Nathalie
AU - Steckmeyer, Jean Claude
AU - Dessagne, Ph.
AU - Kerveno, M.
AU - Mellier, Frédéric
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Within the GUINEVERE project (Generation of Uninterrupted Intense NEutrons at the lead VEnus REactor) carried out at SCK•CEN in Mol, the continuous deuteron accelerator GENEPI-3C was coupled to the VENUS-F fast simulated lead-cooled reactor. Today the FREYA project (Fast Reactor Experiments for hYbrid Applications) is ongoing to study the neutronic behavior of this Accelerator Driven System (ADS) during different phases of operation. In particular the set-up of a monitoring system for the subcriticality of an ADS is envisaged to guarantee safe operation of the installation. The methodology for subcriticality monitoring in ADS takes into account the determination of the initial subcriticality level, the monitoring of reactivity variations, and interim cross-checking. At start-up, the Pulsed Neutron Source (PNS) technique is envisaged to determine the initial subcriticality level. Thanks to its reference critical state, the PNS technique can be validated on the VENUS-F core. A detector positioning methodology for the PNS technique is set up in this paper for the subcritical VENUS-F core, based on the reduction of higher harmonics in a static evaluation of the Sjöstrand area method. A first case study is provided on the VENUS-F core. This method can be generalised in order to create general rules for detector positions and types for full-scale ADS.
AB - Within the GUINEVERE project (Generation of Uninterrupted Intense NEutrons at the lead VEnus REactor) carried out at SCK•CEN in Mol, the continuous deuteron accelerator GENEPI-3C was coupled to the VENUS-F fast simulated lead-cooled reactor. Today the FREYA project (Fast Reactor Experiments for hYbrid Applications) is ongoing to study the neutronic behavior of this Accelerator Driven System (ADS) during different phases of operation. In particular the set-up of a monitoring system for the subcriticality of an ADS is envisaged to guarantee safe operation of the installation. The methodology for subcriticality monitoring in ADS takes into account the determination of the initial subcriticality level, the monitoring of reactivity variations, and interim cross-checking. At start-up, the Pulsed Neutron Source (PNS) technique is envisaged to determine the initial subcriticality level. Thanks to its reference critical state, the PNS technique can be validated on the VENUS-F core. A detector positioning methodology for the PNS technique is set up in this paper for the subcritical VENUS-F core, based on the reduction of higher harmonics in a static evaluation of the Sjöstrand area method. A first case study is provided on the VENUS-F core. This method can be generalised in order to create general rules for detector positions and types for full-scale ADS.
KW - Accelerator-driven systems
KW - Pulsed neutron source (PNS)
KW - Reactivity
KW - Subcriticality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84870319469&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - In-proceedings paper
AN - SCOPUS:84870319469
SN - 9781622763894
VL - 5
T3 - International Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012, PHYSOR 2012: Advances in Reactor Physics
SP - 3697
EP - 3709
BT - International Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012, PHYSOR 2012
PB - American Nuclear Society
T2 - International Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012: Advances in Reactor Physics, PHYSOR 2012
Y2 - 15 April 2012 through 20 April 2012
ER -