Study of an intrinsically safe infrastructure for training and research on nuclear technologies

Within European Partitioning & Transmutation research programs, infrastructures specifically dedicated to the study of fundamental reactor physics and engineering parameters of future fast-neutron-based reactors are very important, being some of these features not available in present zero-power prototypes. This presentation will illustrate the conceptual design of an Accelerator-Driven System with high safety standards, but ample flexibility for measurements. The design assumes as base option a 70MeV, 0.75mA proton cyclotron, as the one which will be installed at the INFN National Laboratory in Legnaro, Italy and a Beryllium target, with Helium gas as core coolant. Safety is guaranteed by limiting the thermal power to 200 kW, with a neutron multiplication coefficient around 0.94, loading the core with fuel containing Uranium enriched at 20% inserted in a solid-lead diffuser. The small decay heat can be passively removed by thermal radiation from the vessel. Such a system could be used to study, among others, some specific aspects of neutron diffusion in lead, beam-core coupling, target cooling and could serve as a training facility

RESEARCH REACTORS FOR REGIONAL NUCLEAR EDUCATION: EXPANDING THE EASTERN EUROPEAN RESEARCH REACTOR INITIATIVE MODEL

Making effective use of regional academic coalitions has been successful in Central and Eastern Europe, to the benefit not just of European countries, but also to developing countries in other parts of the world. Education in peaceful application of nuclear energy has developed significantly through the Eastern European Research Reactor Initiative (EERRI) Group Fellowship Training Program, which bridges the gap between advanced academic institutions and IAEA Member States seeking to apply nuclear science and technology to achieve national development objectives. This paper explores the statistics of countries and individuals who participated in the EERRI Group Fellowship Training Program; the challenges faced today by institutions and their governments in supporting nuclear education; and how advantages of the EERRI Fellowship concept discussed in previous papers can be expanded to other regions of the world to enhance closer institutional cooperation and access to nuclear education for young generation of scientists and engineers. In particular, this paper focuses on the flexibility of the EERRI Group Fellowship Program concept via the use of multiple institutions in delivering nuclear education, and in the facilitation of institutional cooperation through such events as ‘train the trainer’ courses. Furthermore, nuclear education options in the Asia-Pacific region will be analysed as a case study in order to assess the suitability of an EERRI Group Fellowship Training Program concept in this region

Education & Training with the TRIGA Research Reactor of the Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy (LENA) of the University of Pavia (Italy)

The Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Energy (“LENA”) is an Interdepartmental Research Centre of the University of Pavia which operate, among other facilities, a 250 kW TRIGA Mark II Research Nuclear Reactor. The reactor is at the disposal of researchers from Pavia University and of other users, for research activities, training and education and other services. Nowadays, training is one of the most important tools necessary to gain and maintain the required competence of the various categories of personnel operating in the nuclear field. Thanks to both the deep expertise gained in more than 45years of reactor operation and to the academic context in which reactor is operated, LENA developed a wide range of education and training programs covering most of the topics related to the nuclear field: from safety culture and radioprotection to quality assurance and management system. The nature and scope of Education&Training programme are primarily oriented to students, researchers and professionals involved in nuclear safety-related activities, and are designed and developed both at theoretical and practical level, due to the possibility of operating the reactor and its facilities for specific training purpose. At the academic level, LENA provides courses for Nuclear Engineering and Physics Master Degrees and for post-graduated International Masters, where the typical recipients of the courses come both from national and international context. In addition, thanks to the expertise achieved in the operation and management of the reactor, LENA offers basic and advanced knowledge training courses for "nuclear technicians” to private Companies, Utilities and Governmental Institutions. Training programs, characterized by a significant experimental component, can be arranged based on customer needs, providing training modules with different levels of detail. LENA basic training modules focus on subject related to Operation & Safety in Nuclear Plants, Radiation Protection, Analytical Nuclear Techniques and their applications, Quality Assurance for safety in nuclear installations

Characterization of a Facility for the Measurement of Fission Fragment Transport Effects: Experimental Determination of the Fission Rates for Fissile and Fissionable Isotopes

The transfer facility of the LENA laboratory allows the direct neutron irradiation of fissionable material in the D channel of the TRIGA reactor. A test measurement carried out with a ionization chamber and a Pu-239 sample shows the possibility to use this tool for the study of the transport effects of the fission fragment emerging from thin layers of fissile materials

The New Area Radiation Monitoring System of the Triga Nuclear Research Reactor Facility of the University of Pavia

The area radiation monitoring system of the TRIGA nuclear research reactor facility of the University of Pavia has been renewed after 30 years of operation. The new system is based on a commercial micro-computer and an home-made software developed on Lab-View platform. The system collects the data sampled by six beta-gamma dose-rate proportional counters, a free-air ionization chamber and a weather station through a serial data bus line RS232. Collected data are displayed through a desktop PC in the reactor control room and are also accessible, for a restricted number of users, through internet using the TCP/IP protocol. The software allows the operator to access the data, to modify parameters and perform tests remotely, by means of any common web browser. For an improved safety level, data are stored both in the micro-computer and in the desktop PC, both accessible remotely. The system is provided by output relays that activate automatically the nuclear alarm detection system of the facility when pre-set levels of environmental radiation dose-rate are exceeded. A watchdog, integrated into the micro-computer, tests the whole data acquisition system regularly in order to prevent possible software or hardware failures

Gamma Residual Radioactivity Measurements on Rats and Mice Irradiated in the Thermal Column of a Triga Mark II Reactor for BNCT

The current Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) experiments performed at the University of Pavia, Italy, are focusing on the in vivo irradiations of small animals (rats and mice) in order to evaluate the effectiveness of BNCT in the treatment of diffused lung tumors. After the irradiation, the animals are manipulated, which requires an evaluation of the residual radioactivity induced by neutron activation and the relative radiological risk assessment to guarantee the radiation protection of the workers. The induced activity in the irradiated animals was measured by high-resolution open geometry gamma spectroscopy and compared with values obtained by Monte Carlo simulation. After an irradiation time of 15 min in a position where the in-air thermal flux is about 1.2 x 10(10) cm(-2) s(-1), the specific activity induced in the body of the animal is mainly due to Na-24, Cl-38, K-42, Mn-56, Mg-27 and Ca-49; it is approximately 540 Bq g(-1) in the rat and around 2,050 Bq g(-1) in the mouse. During the irradiation, the animal body (except the lung region) is housed in a 95% enriched Li-6 shield; the primary radioisotopes produced inside the shield by the neutron irradiation are H-3 by the Li-6 capture reaction and F-18 by the reaction sequence Li-6(n,alpha)H-3 -> O-16(t,n)F-18. The specific activities of these products are 3.3 kBq g(-1) and 880 Bq g(-1), respectivel