Neutron activation properties of PE-B4C-concrete assessed by measurements and simulations

Abstract

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.

The Radioactivity Estimation of the Irradiated 13 Mev Cyclotron’s Concrete Shield

“…The other researchers have examined the activation of concrete in the nuclear reactors [7] and accelerators [8]. However, materials of concrete may differ depending on their sand, cement, and aggregate.…”

Assessment of long-lived residual radioisotopes in cement induced by neutron radiation

“…Currently, the majority of research related to the activation of shielding concrete relays on Monte Carlo simulations, [10,11]. Park et al [10] investigated the activation characteristics of concretes containing boron carbide and polyethylene.…”

“…Their computational study revealed that the total activity levels of the concrete decreased considerably with an increase with the replacement levels of polyethylene in borated concrete. Hajdu et al [11] simulated an irradiation scenario of concrete bunker and they have found that decay gamma dose rates of concrete activation were about 50% higher with the use of the each concrete constituent measurement-based input compared to the average overall results. They highlighted the importance of precise estimation of trace elements in materials in relation to safety planning and decommissioning of nuclear related constructions.…”