The neutron activation properties of the PE-B4C-concrete recently developed for the European Spallation Source (ESS) ERIC (European Spallation Source, https://europeanspallationsource.se/about) were investigated. On the one hand the concrete activation was compared to that of the ordinary concrete from which it was developed by means of irradiating concrete samples in the Budapest Research Reactor (BRR) (Budapest Neutron Centre, https://www.bnc.hu/). On the other hand, the measured activities were used to study the impact of input composition on Monte Carlo activation simulations. For this purpose, the complete course of the irradiation experiments were reproduced with MCNPX and Cinder90 simulations with nominal and measured elemental concrete compositions. Simulations suggest that for realistic activation predictions more detailed elemental compositions are required than the nominal ones. Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis technique was applied for this purpose, providing fair results for short-term activation estimations.
Radiation shielding properties, characteristics of concretes are well-studied both by simulation and experimentally, unlike the dose consequences of their neutron activation. In this study, the impact of concrete composition on simulated activity was determined. A method was developed for proper implementation of measured concrete compositions as inputs for the simulation of activation and dose exposure by MCNPX-Cinder90; presented with the example of the recently developed PE-B4C-concrete. Dose consequences of neutron-induced decay gamma radiation were simulated in an irradiation scenario of the European Spallation Source (ESS) ERIC. The study highlights the importance of detailed knowledge of concrete composition for such purposes: dose consequences found to be 29-72% higher using our realistic, measurement-based composition as input compared to the use of a nominal concrete composition, given by the manufacturer. This discrepancy is mainly attributed to the generally neglected contribution of trace elements.
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