Publications Details

Annular Core Research Reactor High Bay Neutron Energy Spectrum Measurements

Kaiser, Krista I.; Martin, Lonnie E.; Mclean, Thomas D.

The Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) recently underwent a multi-department effort to characterize the neutron energy leakage spectra in the reactor High Bay for multiple shielding configurations. The ACRR Operations Department identified and obtained a Rotating Neutron Spectrometer (ROSPEC) from Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) for obtaining neutron energy spectra. Spectra were obtained in the following facility configurations; Fuel Ringed External Cavity, Version II (FREC-II) decoupled with the standard FREC shield plug installed with the following operational permutations: the 4-inch central cavity (CC) shield plug removed in both a free-field (FF) and 44(3y (Blead-boron (LB-44) bucket neutron modifier configuration, fully shielded CC plug FF condition, neutron radiography collimator aperture settings 250:1, 125:1, and 65:1, FREC-II coupled with both the lightweight (2T1) and standard shield plug configurations. The ROSPEC spectrum results were unfolded, evaluated and weighted using the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) 103 neutron radiation weighting factors to obtain a ratio amongst the different shielding configurations at the ACRR. Results of the collected spectra confirm that the predominant neutron energy range in the High Bay area is less than or equal to 250 keV.