Graphite moderated (252)Cf source

Laszlo Sajo-Bohus; Haydn Barros; Eduardo D Greaves; Hector Rene Vega-Carrillo

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.02.025

Graphite moderated (252)Cf source

Appl Radiat Isot. 2015 Jun:100:108-12. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.02.025. Epub 2015 Feb 28.

Authors

Laszlo Sajo-Bohus¹, Haydn Barros², Eduardo D Greaves², Hector Rene Vega-Carrillo³

Affiliations

¹ Universidad Simón Bolívar, Nuclear Physics Laboratory, Apdo 89000, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela. Electronic address: sajobohus@gmail.com.
² Universidad Simón Bolívar, Nuclear Physics Laboratory, Apdo 89000, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela.
³ Unidad Academica de Estudios Nucleares, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, C. Ciprés 10 Fracc. La Peñuela, 98068 Zacatecas, Zac., Mexico. Electronic address: fermineutron@yahoo.com.

PMID: 25770393
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.02.025

Abstract

The Thorium molten-salt reactor is an attractive and affordable nuclear power option for developing countries with insufficient infrastructure and limited technological capability. In the aim of personnel training and experience gathering at the Universidad Simon Bolivar there is in progress a project of developing a subcritical thorium liquid-fuel reactor. The neutron source to run this subcritical reactor is a (252)Cf source and the reactor will use high-purity graphite as moderator. Using the MCNP5 code the neutron spectra of the (252)Cf in the center of the graphite moderator has been estimated along the channel where the liquid thorium salt will be inserted; also the ambient dose equivalent due to the source has been determined around the moderator.

Keywords: (252)Cf; Ambient dose equivalent; Monte Carlo; Neutrons.