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Remec, Igor

Publications and source records attributed to Remec, Igor.

53 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Characterization of a Liquid Ammonia Moderator

Liquid ammonia is an attractive intermediate temperature moderating material, offering a high hydrogen density, low tendency toward radiation-initiated polymerization, and broad accessible temperature range. The LENS collaboration has characterized decoupled poisoned liquid ammonia moderators in an attempt to validate scattering kernels we are generating. Additionally, we have measured a borated water moderator in order to test a model for predicting detailed moderator performance at one level of intrinsic homogeneous neutron capture based on measurements at other levels of such capture. We describe both sets of measurements, as well as use them to illustrate some of the reproducibility challenges associated with moderator characterization measurements on compact neutron sources.

Iverson, Erik B.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Options for a very cold neutron source for the second target station at SNS

Simulation work is underway to identify a very cold neutron source solution that would provide an order of magnitude higher neutron output than the conventional moderator suite. Moderator candidates such as water ice, beryllium, ortho-D2, CH4, and neon all solid at temperatures of 4-6 K were investigated. At present no moderator option was able to achieve the set goal; ortho-D2 and CH4 seem to be the most promising options.

Gallmeier, Franz X.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Characterization of Radiation Fields for Assessing Concrete Degradation in Biological Shields of NPPs

Life extensions of nuclear power plants (NPPs) to 60 years of operation and the possibility of subsequent license renewal to 80 years have renewed interest in long-term material degradation in NPPs. Large irreplaceable sections of most nuclear generating stations are constructed from concrete, including safety-related structures such as biological shields and containment buildings; therefore, concrete degradation is being considered with particular focus on radiation-induced effects. Based on the projected neutron fluence values (E > 0.1 MeV) in the concrete biological shields of the US pressurized water reactor fleet and the currently available data on radiation effects on concrete, some decrease in mechanical properties of concrete cannot be ruled out during extended operation beyond 60 years. An expansion of the irradiated concrete database is desirable to ensure reliable risk assessment for extended operation of nuclear power plants.

Remec, Igor↗
DOE OSTI2017

Spallation Neutron Source Second Target Station Integrated Systems Update

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) was designed from the beginning to accommodate both an accelerator upgrade to increase the proton power and a second target station (STS). Four workshops were organized in 2013 and 2014 to identify key science areas and challenges where neutrons will play a vital role [1-4]. Participants concluded that the addition of STS to the existing ORNL neutron sources was needed to complement the strengths of High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the SNS first target station (FTS). To address the capability gaps identified in the workshops, a study was undertaken to identify instrument concepts that could provide the required new science capabilities. The study outlined 22 instrument concepts and presented an initial science case for STS [5]. These instrument concepts formed the basis of a planning suite of instruments whose requirements determined an initial site layout and moderator selection. An STS Technical Design Report (TDR) documented the STS concept based on those choices [6]. Since issue of the TDR, the STS concept has significantly matured as described in this document.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Review of the Current State of Knowledge on the Effects of Radiation on Concrete

A review of the current state of knowledge on the effects of radiation on concrete in nuclear applications is presented. Emphasis is placed on the effects of radiation damage as reflected by changes in engineering properties of concrete in the evaluation of the long-term operation (LTO) and for Plant Life or Aging Management of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Japan, Spain, and the United States. National issues and concerns are described for Japan and the US followed by a discussion of the fundamental understanding of the effects radiation on concrete. Specifically, the effects of temperature, moisture content, and irradiation on ordinary Portland cement paste and the role of temperature and neutron energy spectra on radiation induced volumetric expansion (RIVE) of aggregate-forming minerals are described. This is followed by a discussion of the bounding conditions for extended operation, the significance of accelerated irradiation conditions, the role of temperature, creep, and how these issues are being incorporated into numerical and meso-scale models. From these insights on radiation damage, analyses of these effects on concrete structures are reviewed and the current status of work in Japan and the US are described. Also discussed is the recent formation of a new international scientific and technical organization, the International Committee on Irradiated Concrete (ICIC), to provide a forum for timely information exchanges among organizations pursuing the identification, quantification, and modeling of the effects of radiation on concrete in commercial nuclear applications. Lastly, the paper concludes with a discussion of research gaps including: 1) interpreting test-reactor data, 2) evaluating service-irradiated concrete for aging management and to inform radiation damage models with the Zorita NPP (Spain) serving as the first comprehensive test case, 3) irradiated-assisted alkali-silica reactions, and 4) RIVE under constrained conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Characterization of Radiation Fields in Biological Shields of Nuclear Power Plants for Assessing Concrete Degradation

Life extensions of nuclear power plants to 60 and potentially 80 years of operation have renewed interest in long-term material degradation. One material being considered is concrete with a particular focus on radiation-induced effects. Based on the projected neutron fluence (E > 0.1 MeV) values in the concrete biological shields of the US PWR fleet and the available data on radiation effects on concrete, some decrease in mechanical properties of concrete cannot be ruled out during extended operation beyond 60 years. An expansion of the irradiated concrete database and a reliable determination of relevant neutron fluence energy cutoff value are necessary to assure reliable risk assessment for NPPs extended operation.

Remec, Igor↗
DOE OSTI2016

NEUTRONICS ANALYSES FOR SNS TARGETS DEPOSITIONS

In order to deposit Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) spent facility components replaced due to end-of-life radiation-induced material damage or burn-up, or because of mechanical failure or design improvements, waste classification analyses are being performed. These analyses include an accurate estimate of the radionuclide inventory, on which base components are classified and an appropriate container for transport and storage is determined. After the choice for the container is made, transport calculations are performed for the facility component to be placed inside the container, ensuring compliance with waste management regulations. When necessary, additional shielding is added. Most of the effort is concentrated on the target deposition, which normally takes place once or twice per year. Additionally, the second target station (STS) is in a process of design and waste management analyses for the STS target are being developed to support a deposition plan

Popova, Irina I↗
DOE OSTI2016

SECOND TARGET STATION MODERATOR PERFORMANCE WITH A ROTATING TARGET

Oak Ridge National Laboratory manages and operates the Spallation Neutron Source and the High Flux Isotope Reactor, two of the world's most advanced neutron scattering facilities. Both facilities are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Science, and are available to researchers from all over the world. Delivering cutting edge science requires continuous improvements and development of the facilities and instruments. The SNS was designed from the outset to accommodate an additional target station, or Second Target Station (STS), and an upgraded accelerator feeding proton beams to STS and the existing First Target Station (FTS). Upgrade of the accelerator and the design and construction of STS are being proposed. The presently considered STS configuration is driven with short (<1 s) proton pulses at 10 Hz repetition rate and 467 kW proton beam power, and is optimized for high intensity and high resolution long wavelength neutron applications. STS will allow installation of 22 beamlines and will expand and complement the current national neutron scattering capabilities. In 2015 the STS studies were performed for a compact tungsten target; first a stationary tungsten plate target was analyzed to considerable details and then dropped in favor of a rotating target. For both target options the proton beam footprint as small as acceptable from mechanical and heat removal aspects is required to arrive at a compact-volume neutron production zone in the target, which is essential for tight coupling of target and moderators and for achieving high-intensity peak neutron fluxes. This paper will present recent STS work with the emphasis on neutronics and moderator performance.

long wavelength neutrons↗
DOE OSTI2016

Characterization of Radiation Fields in Biological Shields of Nuclear Power Plants for Assessing Concrete Degradationa

Life extensions of nuclear power plants to 60 and potentially 80 years of operation have renewed interest in long-term material degradation. One material being considered is concrete, with a particular focus on radiation-induced effects. Based on the projected neutron fluence values (E > 0.1 MeV) in the concrete biological shields of the US pressurized water reactor fleet and the available data on radiation effects on concrete, some decrease in mechanical properties of concrete cannot be ruled out during extended operation beyond 60 years. An expansion of the irradiated concrete database and a reliable determination of relevant neutron fluence energy cutoff value are necessary to ensure reliable risk assessment for extended operation of nuclear power plants.

concrete↗
DOE OSTI2015

Technical Design Report, Second Target Station

The Second Target Station (STS) is a proposed upgrade for SNS. It includes a doubling of the accelerator power and an additional instrument hall. The new instrument hall will receive a 467 kW 10 Hz beam. The parameters and preliminary design aspects of the STS are presented for the accelerator, target systems, instrument hall, instruments and civil construction aspects.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Radiation Damage In Reactor Cavity Concrete

License renewal up to 60 years and the possibility of subsequent license renewal to 80 years has established a renewed focus on long-term aging of nuclear generating stations materials, and recently, on concrete. Large irreplaceable sections of most nuclear generating stations include concrete. The Expanded Materials Degradation Analysis (EMDA), jointly performed by the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Industry, identified the urgent need to develop a consistent knowledge base on irradiation effects in concrete. Much of the historical mechanical performance data of irradiated concrete does not accurately reflect typical radiation conditions in NPPs or conditions out to 60 or 80 years of radiation exposure. To address these potential gaps in the knowledge base, The Electric Power Research Institute and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working to disposition radiation damage as a degradation mechanism. This paper outlines the research program within this pathway including: (i) defining the upper bound of the neutron and gamma dose levels expected in the biological shield concrete for extended operation (80 years of operation and beyond), (ii) determining the effects of neutron and gamma irradiation as well as extended time at temperature on concrete, (iii) evaluating opportunities to irradiate prototypical concrete under accelerated neutron and gamma dose levels to establish a conservative bound and share data obtained from different flux, temperature, and fluence levels, (iv) evaluating opportunities to harvest and test irradiated concrete from international NPPs, (v) developing cooperative test programs to improve confidence in the results from the various concretes and research reactors, (vi) furthering the understanding of the effects of radiation on concrete (see companion paper) and (vii) establishing an international collaborative research and information exchange effort to leverage capabilities and knowledge.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of SNS Beamline Shielding Configurations using MCNPX Accelerated by ADVANTG

Shielding analyses for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory pose significant computational challenges, including highly anisotropic high-energy sources, a combination of deep penetration shielding and an unshielded beamline, and a desire to obtain well-converged nearly global solutions for mapping of predicted radiation fields. The majority of these analyses have been performed using MCNPX with manually generated variance reduction parameters (source biasing and cell-based splitting and Russian roulette) that were largely based on the analyst's insight into the problem specifics. Development of the variance reduction parameters required extensive analyst time, and was often tailored to specific portions of the model phase space. We previously applied a developmental version of the ADVANTG code to an SNS beamline study to perform a hybrid deterministic/Monte Carlo analysis and showed that we could obtain nearly global Monte Carlo solutions with essentially uniform relative errors for mesh tallies that cover extensive portions of the model with typical voxel spacing of a few centimeters. The use of weight window maps and consistent biased sources produced using the FW-CADIS methodology in ADVANTG allowed us to obtain these solutions using substantially less computer time than the previous cell-based splitting approach. While those results were promising, the process of using the developmental version of ADVANTG was somewhat laborious, requiring user-developed Python scripts to drive much of the analysis sequence. In addition, limitations imposed by the size of weight-window files in MCNPX necessitated the use of relatively coarse spatial and energy discretization for the deterministic Denovo calculations that we used to generate the variance reduction parameters. We recently applied the production version of ADVANTG to this beamline analysis, which substantially streamlined the analysis process. We also tested importance function collapsing (in space and energy) capabilities in ADVANTG. These changes, along with the support for parallel Denovo calculations using the current version of ADVANTG, give us the capability to improve the fidelity of the deterministic portion of the hybrid analysis sequence, obtain improved weight-window maps, and reduce both the analyst and computational time required for the analysis process.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Recent Advances in Understanding Radiation Damage in Reactor Cavity Concrete

License renewal up to 60 years and the possibility of subsequent license renewal to 80 years has resulted in a renewed focus on long-term aging of materials at nuclear power plants (NPPs) including concrete. Large irreplaceable sections of most nuclear generating stations include concrete. The Expanded Materials Degradation Analysis, jointly performed by the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Nuclear Industry, identified the urgent need to develop a consistent knowledge base on irradiation effects in concrete (Graves et al., (2014)). Much of the historical mechanical performance data of irradiated concrete (Hilsdorf et al., (1978)) does not accurately reflect typical radiation conditions in NPPs or conditions out to 60 or 80 years of radiation exposure (Kontani et al., (2011)). To address these potential gaps in the knowledge base, the Electric Power Research Institute and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are working to better understand radiation damage as a degradation mechanism. This paper outlines recent progress toward: 1) assessing the radiation environment in concrete biological shields and defining the upper bound of the neutron and gamma dose levels expected in the biological shield for extended operation, and estimating adsorbed dose, 2) evaluating opportunities to harvest and test irradiated concrete from international NPPs, 3) evaluating opportunities to irradiate prototypical concrete and its components under accelerated neutron and gamma dose levels to establish conservative bounds and inform damage models, 4) developing improved models to enhance the understanding of the effects of radiation on concrete and 5) establishing an international collaborative research and information exchange effort to leverage capabilities and knowledge including developing cooperative test programs to improve confidence in data obtained from various concretes and from accelerated irradiation experiments.

Cocrete Bioshield↗
DOE OSTI2015

SNS shielding analyses overview

This paper gives an overview on on-going shielding analyses for Spallation Neutron Source. Presently, the most of the shielding work is concentrated on the beam lines and instrument enclosures to prepare for commissioning, save operation and adequate radiation background in the future. There is on-going work for the accelerator facility. This includes radiation-protection analyses for radiation monitors placement, designing shielding for additional facilities to test accelerator structures, redesigning some parts of the facility, and designing test facilities to the main accelerator structure for component testing. Neutronics analyses are required as well to support spent structure management, including waste characterisation analyses, choice of proper transport/storage package and shielding enhancement for the package if required.

Popova, Irina↗
DOE OSTI2014

Radiation effects in concrete for nuclear power plants, Part II: Perspective from micromechanical modeling

The need to understand and characterize the effects of neutron irradiation on concrete has become urgent because of the possible extension of service life of many nuclear power generating stations. Current knowledge is primarily based on a collection of data obtained in test reactors. These results are inherently difficult to interpret because materials and testing conditions are inconsistent. A micromechanical approach based on the Hashin composite sphere model is presented to derive a first-order separation of the effects of radiation on cement paste and aggregate, and, also, on their interaction. Although the scarcity of available data limits the validation of the model, it appears that, without negating a possible gamma-ray induced effect, the neutron-induced damage and swelling of aggregate plays a predominant role on the overall concrete expansion and the damage of the cement paste. Finally, the radiation-induced volumetric expansion (RIVE) effects can also be aided by temperature elevation and shrinkage in the cement paste.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗