Feasibility of Creating "CANDU-Like" Workplace Neutron Fields in an Existing Irradiation Facility

Abstract

The feasibility of producing, in an existing irradiation facility, neutron fields that resemble those found around pressurised, heavy-water-moderated power reactors (e.g. CANDU reactors), was investigated by calculation. A radionuclide source, 252Cf, and neutrons produced with a 150 kV accelerator via the reaction 2H(d,n) 3He, were the primary sources of neutrons. The neutron fields from these sources were moderated by various materials and the resulting fluence spectra were determined using the Monte Carlo code MCNP. Calculated fluence spectra and dosimetric quantities derived from them were found to compare reasonably well with their counterparts obtained from measurements made previously in CANDU power plants.