Determination of IRT-2M fuel burnup by gamma spectrometry

Michal Koleška; Ladislav Viererbl; Milan Marek; Jaroslav Ernest; Michal Šunka; Miroslav Vinš

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.10.001

Determination of IRT-2M fuel burnup by gamma spectrometry

Appl Radiat Isot. 2016 Jan:107:92-97. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.10.001. Epub 2015 Oct 8.

Authors

Michal Koleška¹, Ladislav Viererbl², Milan Marek², Jaroslav Ernest², Michal Šunka², Miroslav Vinš²

Affiliations

¹ Research centre Rez, Hlavni 130, 25068 Husinec-Rez, Czech Republic. Electronic address: Michal.koleska@cvrez.cz.
² Research centre Rez, Hlavni 130, 25068 Husinec-Rez, Czech Republic.

PMID: 26474208
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.10.001

Abstract

A spectrometric system was developed for evaluating spent fuel in the LVR-15 research reactor, which employs highly enriched (36%) IRT-2M-type fuel. Such system allows the measurement of detailed fission product profiles. Within these measurements, nuclides such as (137)Cs, (134)Cs, (144)Ce, (106)Ru and (154)Eu may be detected in fuel assemblies with different cooling times varying between 1.67 and 7.53 years. Burnup calculations using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code data showed good agreement with measurements, though some discrepancies were observed in certain regions. These discrepancies are attributed to the evaluation of irradiation history, reactor regulation pattern and buildup schemes.

Keywords: (106)Ru; (134)Cs; (137)Cs; (144)Ce; (154)Eu; Burnup measurement; Fuel cooling time; IRT-2M; LVR-15; MCNPX code burnup calculation.