DOE OSTI2014
The intense plasma neutron source of ITER requires careful consideration of radiation safety during the design of the machine, its operation plan and licensing process. One important issue is that of occupational radiation exposure (ORE) during in-situ maintenance activities inside the cryostat, and particularly in the port inter-space area (PI) where up keeping of port systems should take place (diagnostics, tritium breeding test modules, heating antennas). ITER ports and port plugs (PP) become activated by neutron irradiation during plasma operation; from the subsequent decay and gamma emission of irradiated materials, the so-called shutdown dose rate field (SDR) appears. A project requirement of 100 uSv/h after 12 days exists for the SDR in the PI in order to limit exposure during maintenance and meet ORE regulatory limits. This requirement is particularly challenging for equatorial ports (EP) due to, among others, background neutron radiation and activation from/by neighbouring components (a.k.a. 'cross-talk'), and particularly the lower ports (LP). For a particular port inter-space, the SDR field is a combination of: (i) the gamma dose due to the activation of components local to the PI, typically referring to the PI itself plus the port plug, port duct and bellows, vessel extension and blankets in its vicinity; (ii) the gamma dose due to activation of components far away from the PI, a.k.a. the cross-talk, which typically refers to other ports, cryostat and rest of the vacuum vessel and blankets. The situation is complicated to some extent by the fact that both these components can arise from a combination of irradiation by local neutrons, i.e. those permeating through the vicinity of the port itself, and by cross-talk neutrons, i.e. those permeating via other paths. In simple terms, the so-called 'neutron cross-talk' refers to neutron leakage through other ports and components producing activation, decay gammas and dose locally in the PI of interest, whereas the 'gamma cross-talk' refers to activation and decay gammas in other ports producing dose in the PI from far away. The study reported here focuses on the evaluation of the effect of radiation cross-talk from a torus cryopump (TCP) LP located directly underneath a generic diagnostics equatorial port plug (DEPP) in the equatorial port itself. This is considered the worst case scenario, as the TCP-LP has a large aperture and has to be mostly empty in order to meet TCP pumping requirements. For the reference case and R1, the neutron cross-talk from the LP activating the EP is responsible for 109 uSv/h. In addition, a gamma cross-talk of 51 uSv/h from LP activation has been found. The total cross-talk contribution is therefore responsible for 160 uSv/h of SDR at EP PI. The local SDR contribution, i.e. that from activation of the EP with 'local-only' neutrons, is 166 uSv/h. The total SDR at R1 is 360 uSv/h, including some minor contributions from the UP, lateral EPs, cryostat and bio-shield. The total SDR at R2 is 349 uSv/hr, with a cross-talk contribution of 203 uSv/h. In R2 the gamma cross-talk is more intense, as it is closer to the highly activated TCPH. These results illustrate how the SDR field produced by radiation cross-talk through a TCP-LP is comparable in magnitude with that produced by neutron leakage and activation local to the EP. Shielding options are currently under consideration. Local gamma shielding at the EP PI is found to be effective in reducing gamma cross-talk from the LP and TCPH, and also in reducing the local contribution from the port duct and bellows. (authors)
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗