Evaluation of Neutron Shielding Performance of Cd-Ss 316l as a Candidate Alloy for Dry Cask of Research Reactor Spent Fuel

Abstract

EVALUATION OF NEUTRON SHIELDING PERFORMANCE OF CD-SS 316L AS A CANDIDATE ALLOY FOR DRY CASK OF RESEARCH REACTOR SPENT FUEL Development of dry casks is necessary to support the national strategy for management of spent fuels. One of the requirements for the dry cask is shielding performance for neutron emitted by the spent fuels to be stored in the dry cask. The objectives of this study are to determine the emitted neutrons by the spent fuel generated from GAS research reactor and to evaluate the neutron shielding performance of Cd-SS316L alloy as a candidate material to be used in dry cask for the spent fuels. The former was carried out using Origen 2.1 software, while the latter using MCNP5. The result shows that the emitted neutrons by a spent fuel after 5 years discharged from GAS research reactor were 2.81×103 and 3.32×106 n/s for reactor core power of 15 and 30 MW, respectively. Addition of Cd improves the neutron shielding performance of SS 316L. The evaluation of neutron shielding performance of SS 316L with addition of Cd which is the candidate material for dry cask of the spent fuels from the GAS research reactor can be evaluated using Origen 2.1 software for neutron emission, while the neutron shielding performance was evaluated by the simulation using MNCP 5 software. This study shows the Cd-SS 316L alloy can be used for further study to develop the dry cask design for the GAS research reactor.Key words: Neutron shielding, cadmium, stainless steel, spent fuel.

Simulation of neutron shielding performance of Al-Cd alloy for radioactive waste container

“…The results indicate that Cd coating in Al can increase the shielding ability for fast energy neutrons, although it was less compared to that of for thermal energy neutron. Better improvement of shielding ability for thermal neutron compared to that of fast neutron have also been reported for SS316L-Cd [3] and SS316L-Gd alloys [9]. It can be attributed to the higher neutron cross section of Cd and Gd for neutron with thermal compared to fast energy.…”

“…After being discharged from the reactor core, the spent nuclear fuels are stored in the reactor pool at least for 100 days to allow its decay heat and radiation level decrease. Afterwards, the spent fuels are transferred to the wet storage facility through the water transfer channel [3]. The wet storage facility is expected to be able to accommodate the spent fuels from the operation life of the RSG GAS.…”