Determination of in-core power in low energy research reactors by measurement of¹⁶N and¹⁸F in the primary coolant

Abstract

The measurement of¹⁶N and¹⁸F activity in the primary coolant of the JASON Argonaut reactor has been used to monitor in-core reactor power. The¹⁶N is produced by the¹⁶O(n, p)¹⁶N reaction and the 6.1 MeV photopeak was measured on-line using a BGO detector adjacent to the primary coolant circuit. These data provided a relative measure of power stability during steady state operation and a measure of linearity at different power levels. The¹⁸F is produced in the primary coolant by the¹⁸O(p, n)¹⁸F reaction and aliquots of primary coolant were sampled from the reactor dump tank for off-line radiochemical analysis. The¹⁸F was separated as trimethylfluorosilane and the activity was determined by measurement of the 0.511 MeV annihilation photopeak using a NaI(TI) detector. The measured¹⁸F activity was used to determine actual in-core reactor power using both ab-initio calculations and by comparison of results with a calibrated power reactor. The¹⁸F data also provided a method of nomalising the¹⁶N data for direct monitoring of in-core reactor power in JASON.