Speaker
Description
A set of tools for fast and reliable activation calculations is being studied and developed at the European Spallation Source (ESS). These consist of classic radiation transport codes, and more novel and rapid solutions, involving machine learning techniques for activation estimations. This set of tools will provide support for operations and radioactive waste classification and management.
As part of the validation effort proposed, an experiment was conducted at ESS, using the Proton Beam Imaging device (PBI) in the Beam Dump line of the linear accelerator as an irradiation facility for six foil samples, made of Al, Cu, Fe, Ni, Nb and Bi. The samples were positioned on top of the component, which contains an Aluminum Oxide screen that acts as a spallation target. After an irradiation, the gamma spectra emitted by the samples was measured using Canberra Mirion HPGe detectors, and activation at the end of irradiations for present nuclides was extracted from the measurements and using the Genie2k software.
The experimental conditions were replicated using PHITS 3.35, with the source term for the irradiations extracted from the imaging device measurements. Activation calculations were performed using DCHAIN, and activity from the experimentally identified nuclides was compared to computational results.
| Topics | T3. Code benchmarking and intercomparison |
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