• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.3012-3017
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• 2021

The spatial distribution and the energy spectrum of the neutron yield were investigated with the neutron activation analysis and MCNP simulation was carried out to verify the analysis results and to extend the results to a 3D mapping of the neutron yield distribution in the KSTAR. High purity Ni specimen was selected in the neutron activation analysis. Total neutron yields turned out to be 3.76 × 10¹² n/s - 7.56 × 10¹² n/s at the outer vessel of the KSTAR, two orders of magnitude lower than those at the inner vessel of the KSTAR, which demonstrates the attenuation of neutron yield while passing through the different structural materials of the reactor. Based on the fully expanded 3D simulation results, 2D cross-sectional distributions of the neutron yield on XY and ZX planes of KSTAR were examined. The results reveal that the neutron yield has its maximum concentration near the center of blanket and decreases with increasing proximity to the vacuum vessel wall.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.2572-2577
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• 2023

A field determination method for small D-T neutron source yield based on the oxygen prompt gamma rays was established. A neutron-gamma transport equation of the determination device was developed. Two yield field determination devices with a thickness of 20 mm and 50 mm were made. The count rates of the oxygen prompt gamma rays were calculated using three energy spectra processing approaches, which were the characteristic peak of 6.13 MeV, the overlapping peak of 6.92 MeV and 7.12 MeV, and the total energy area. The R-square of the calibration curve is better than 94% and the maximum error of the yield test is 5.21%, demonstrating that it is feasible to measure the yield of D-T neutron source by oxygen prompt gamma rays. Additionally, the results meet the requirements for field determination of the conventional D-T neutron source yield.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1871-1877
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• 2023

The main goal of the coordinated project development of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals of Y-90 and Re-188 is to exploit advancements in radionuclide production technology. Here, direct and indirect production methods with medium reactor and cyclotron are compared to evaluate derived neutron flux and production yield. First, nano-sized ¹⁸⁶W and ⁸⁹Y specimens are suspended in water in a quartz vial by FLUKA simulation. Then, the solution is irradiated for 4 days under 9E+14 n/cm2/s neutron flux of reactor. Also, a neutron activator including three layers-lead moderator, graphite reflector, and polyethylene absorbent- is simulated and tungsten target is irradiated by 60 MeV protons of cyclotron to generate induced neutrons for ¹⁸⁸W and ⁹⁰Sr production via neutron capture. As the neutron energy reduced, the flux gradually increased towards epithermal range to satisfy (n/2n,γ) reactions. The obtained specific activities at saturation were higher than the reported experimental values because the accumulated epithermal flux and nano-sized specimens influence the outcomes. The beta emitters, which are widely utilized in brachytherapy, appeal an alternative route to locally achieve a rational yield. Therefore, the proposed method via neutron activator may ascertain these broad requirements.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.391.1-391.1
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• 2003

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3164-3170
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• 2021

The increasing interest that GEANT4 is gaining nowadays, because of its special capabilities, prompted us to address its reliability in neutronic calculation for the realistic and complex spallation target MEGAPIE of the Paul Scherrer Institute of Switzerland. In this paper we have specifically addressed the neutronic characterization of the active zone of this target. Three physical quantities are evaluated: neutron flux spectra and total neutron fluxes on target's z-axis, and the neutron yield as a function of the target's altitude and radius. Comparison of the obtained results with those of the MCNPX reference code and some experimental measurements have confirmed the impact of the geometrical and proton beam models on the neutron fluxes. It has also allowed to reveal the intrinsic influence of the code type. The resulting differences reach a factor of ~2 for the beam model and 4-18% for the other parameters cumulated. The analysis of the neutron yield has led us to conclude that: 1) Increasing the productivity of the MEGAPIE target cannot be achieved simply by increasing the thickness of the target, if the irradiation parameters are not modified. 2) The size of the spallation area needs to be redefined more precisely.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2001

Semiconductor diode detectors coated with neutron reactive material are presently under investigation for various uses, such as remote sensing of thermal neutrons, fast neutron counting, and thermal neutron radiography. Theory indicates that single-coated devices can yield thermal neutron efficiencies from 4% to 11 %, which is supported by experimental evidence. Radiation endurance measurements indicate that the devices function well up to a limiting thermal neutron fluence of $10^{13}/cm^2$, beyond which noticeable degradation occurs. Thermal neutron contrast images of step wedges and simple phantoms, taken with dual in-line pixel devices, show promise for thermal neutron imaging detectors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.9
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• pp.3229-3240
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• 2023

Due to neutron radiation, atomic displacement has a significant effect on material in nuclear reactors. A range of secondary displacement models, including the Kinchin-Pease (K-P), Lindhard, Norgett-Robinson-Torrens (NRT), and athermal recombination-corrected displacement per atom (arc-dpa) have been suggested to calculate the number of displacement per atom (dpa). As neutron elastic interaction is the main cause of displacement damage, the focus of the current study is to calculate the atomic displacement caused by the neutron elastic interaction in order to estimate the exact amount of yield strength in a WWER-1000 reactor pressure vessel. To achieve this purpose, the reactor core is simulated by MCNPX code. In addition, a program is developed to calculate the elastic radiation damage induced by the incident neutron flux (RADIX) based on different models using Fortran programming language. Also, due to non-elastic interaction, the displacement damage is calculated by the HEATR module of the NJOY code. ASME E-693-01 standard, SPECTER, NJOY codes, and other pervious findings have been used to validate RADIX results. The results showed that the RADIX(arc-dpa)/HEATR outputs have appropriate accuracy. The relative error of the calculated dpa resulting from RADIX(arc-dpa)/HEATR is about 8% and 46% less than NJOY code, respectively in the ¼ and ¾ vessel wall.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.1002-1007
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• 2020

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a spectrum formulation set employed to modify the neutron spectrum of D-D fusion neutrons in a IS plasma focus device using GEANT4, MCNPX2.6, and FLUKA codes. The set consists of a moderator, reflector, collimator and filters of fast neutron and gamma radiation, which placed on the path of 2.45 MeV neutron energy. The treated neutrons eliminate cancerous tissue with minimal damage to other healthy tissue in a method called neutron therapy. The system optimized for a total neutron yield of 10⁹ (n/s). The numerical results indicate that the GEANT4 code for the cubic geometry in the Beam Shaping Assembly 3 (BSA3) is the best choice for the energy of epithermal neutrons.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.724-729
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• 2010

We have proposed a new configuration on the cathode structure to improve a neutron yield without the application of external ion sources in an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) device. A neutron yield in the IEC device is closely related to the potential well structure generated inside the cathode and is proportional to the ion current. Therefore, the application of a double grid cathode structure to the IEC device is expected to produce a higher ion current and neutron yield than at a single grid cathode due to a high electric field strength generated around the cathode. These possibilities were verified as compared with the ion current calculated from both shape of the single and double grid cathode. Additionally from the results of ion's lives and trajectories examined at various outer cathode voltages and grid cathode configurations by using particle simulations, the validity of the double grid cathode was confirmed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.273-280
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• 2014

The spectrum weighted responses of various detectors were calculated to provide guidance on the proper selection and use of survey instruments on the basis of their energy response characteristics on the neutron fields. To yield the spectrum weighted response, the detector response functions of 17 neutron-measuring devices were numerically folded with each of the produced calibration neutron spectra through the in-house developed software 'K-SWR'. The detectors' response functions were taken from the IAEA Technical Reports Series No. 403 (TRS-403). The reference neutron fields of 21 kinds with 2 spectra groups with different proportions of thermal and fast neutrons have been produced using neutrons from the $^{241}Am$-Be sources held in a graphite pile, a bare $^{241}Am$-Be source, and a DT neutron generator. Fluence-average energy ($E_{ave}$) varied from 3.8 MeV to 16.9 MeV, and the ambient-dose-equivalent rate [$H^*(10)/h$] varied from 0.99 to 16.5 mSv/h.