Gediminas Stankunas

Assessment and benchmarking of the impact to gamma dose rate employing different photon-to-dose conversion factors using MCNPX code at the decommissioning stage of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant

A comparative study was performed to reveal the impact of several photon-to-dose conversion factors for gamma dose rate calculations when applied to heterogeneous environment in the case of decommission stage of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The following set of conversion factors were investigated by employing the Monte Carlo N-particle transport (MCNPX) code derived from the recommendations given in ICRP-21, ICRP-74 and ANSI/ANS-6.1.1 standards (1977 and 1991), based on the experiments performed for gamma radiation dose rate measurements inside the deplanting Emergency Core Cooling System tank. MCNPX precise simulation and the benchmark between the conversion coefficients highlighted the impact to the results for the selected case of this investigation. The results revealed that the data from the ANSI/ANS-6.1.1 1991 publication are reliable for various dose and shielding calculations in the case of decontamination of radioactive equipment and similar applications since it showed a statistically satisfied agreement between the simulation results and experimental data. These tendencies suggest that the radiological protection system currently adopted in NPP during the decommissioning stage can be characterised using ANSI/ANS-6.1.1 1991 standards with respect to gamma dosimetry.

Activation Inventories after Exposure to DD/DT Neutrons in Safety Analysis of Nuclear Fusion Installations

Irradiations with 14 MeV fusion neutrons are planned at Joint European Torus (JET) in DT operations with the objective to validate the calculation of the activation of structural materials in functional materials expected in ITER and fusion plants. This study describes the activation and dose rate calculations performed for materials irradiated throughout the DT plasma operation during which the samples of real fusion materials are exposed to 14 MeV neutrons inside the JET vacuum vessel. Preparatory activities are in progress during the current DD operations with dosimetry foils to measure the local neutron fluence and spectrum at the sample irradiation position. The materials included those used in the manufacturing of the main in-vessel components, such as ITER-grade W, Be, CuCrZr, 316 L(N) and the functional materials used in diagnostics and heating systems. The neutron-induced activities and dose rates at shutdown were calculated by the FISPACT code, using the neutron fluxes and spectra that were provided by the preceding MCNP neutron transport calculations.