Abstract
A characterization of cylindrical samples by neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA) at the GELINA facility of JRC Geel (Belgium) is presented. The samples were designed and produced for reactivity worth measurements in the MINERVE reactor of CEA Cadarache (France). NRTA was applied to determine the nuclide composition of UO2, Al2O3 and liquid samples that were doped with silver. The volume number densities of 238U, 107Ag and 109Ag obtained by NRTA are within 2% fully consistent with the values that are quoted by the manufacturer. In addition, the NRTA data reveal a tungsten contamination which is not reported by the provider. It is shown that such a contamination contributes by up to 5.7% to the reactivity worth.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the EUFRAT open access programme of the Joint Research Centre. The authors would like to thank technical staff for the dedicated and skillful operation of GELINA. We are also grateful to scientists of EC-JRC-Geel for their valuable comments and suggestions. L. Šalamon acknowledges the GENTLE project (Grant No. 323304) for the support during his stay at the JRC Geel.
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Šalamon, L., Geslot, B., Heyse, J. et al. Neutron resonance transmission analysis of cylindrical samples used for reactivity worth measurements. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 321, 519–530 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06611-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06611-9