Venus PWR engineering mock-up: core qualification neutron and gamma field characterization

The VENUS PWR Engineering Mock-up experiment is part of the “Belgian PWR-Pressure Vessel Surveillance Program”, sponsored by the Belgian Utilities. Through a cooperation agreement it contributes also to the “LWR-Pressure Vessel Surveillance Dosimetry Improvement Program” supported by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The VENUS pressure vessel mock-up simulates the reflector geometry and the core boundary shape of a generic 3-loop power plant. The VENUS core itself is made of a regular pattern of fuel pins typical of the modern PWR power reactors. The outgoing neutron spectrum is thus close to realistic situations. The paper includes typical experimental results concerning the pin-to-pin power distribution, the fast neutron propagation out of the core and the gamma energy deposition in selected positions of the core baffle. The theoretical analysis scheme is presented together with a comparison between calculated and measured data.