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Assessing neutron emission of LWR spent fuel is necessary for the back-end of the fuel cycle, such as the dimensioning of transport and storage casks of spent fuel. Although core and depletion codes can calculate the isotopic composition of the discharged fuel and therefore infer its neutron source, accurate measured neutron emission values remain rare mainly because of the difficulty to prepare, handle and characterize spent fuel. Measured neutron emission values are, however, extremely relevant to code validation, as neutrons emitted by LWR spent fuel mainly originates from spontaneous fissions of minor actinides (e.g., 242Cm, 244Cm and 252Cf) that are produced only after a large number of neutron captures in the reactor core. This paper reports on neutron emission measurements of selected LWR-PROTEUS spent fuel samples and their comparisons with a core and depletion calculation chains based on CASMO-5, SIMULATE-3 and the SNF codes. The measured LWR-PROTEUS samples are comprised of 11 samples irradiated in a Swiss PWR. The samples are UO2 or MOX and have discharge burn-ups ranging from 20 to 120 GWd/t. We measured the 40-cm long samples in a hot-cell of the Paul Scherrer Institut using a measurement station made of polyethylene and a BF3 detector. We repeated the measurements several times and in different conditions to ensure the accuracy and reproducibility of the results. We derived ratios of neutron rates emitted by the different samples and absolute neutron emission rates by comparison with a reference 252Cf source, which we re-calibrated for this exercise. The experimental uncertainty (1σ) on the absolute neutron emission varies from 3% to 4%. We compared a subset of the measured values to the calculation predictions and showed an agreement within less than 7% for all but one sample.

At EPFL, the CROCUS reactor has been used to carry out experiments with vibrating fuel rods. The paper presents a first attempt to employ the measured data to validate CORE SIM+, a neutron noise solver developed at Chalmers University of Technology. For this purpose, the original experimental data are processed in order to extract the necessary information. In particular, detector recordings are scrutinized and detrended, and used to estimate CPSDs of detector pairs. These values are then compared with the ones derived from the CORE SIM+ simulations of the experiments. The main trend of the experimental data along with the values for some detectors are successfully reproduced by CORE SIM+. Further work is necessary on both the experimental and computational sides in order to improve the validation process.

The Horizon2020 European project CORTEX aims at developing an innovative core monitoring technique that allows detecting anomalies in nuclear reactors, such as excessive vibrations of core internals, flow blockage, or coolant inlet perturbations. The technique will be mainly based on using the fluctuations in neutron flux recorded by in-core and ex-core instrumentation, from which the anomalies will be differentiated depending on their type, location and characteristics. The project will result in a deepened understanding of the physical processes involved, allowing utilities to detect operational problems at a very early stage. In this framework, neutron noise computational methods and models are developed. In parallel, mechanical noise experimental campaigns are carried out in two zero-power reactors: AKR-2 and CROCUS. The aim is to produce high quality neutron noise-specific experimental data for the validation of the models. In CROCUS, the COLIBRI experimental program was developed to investigate experimentally the radiation noise induced by fuel rods vibrations. In this way, the 2018 first CORTEX campaign in CROCUS consisted in experiments with a perturbation induced by a fuel rods oscillator. Eighteen fuel rods located at the periphery of the core fuel lattice were oscillated between ±0.5 mm and ±2.0 mm around their central position at a frequency ranging from 0.1 Hz to 2 Hz. Signals from 11 neutron detectors which were set at positions in-core and ex-core in the water reflector, were recorded. The present article documents the results in noise level of the experimental campaign. Neutron noise levels are compared for several oscillation frequencies and amplitudes, and at the various detector locations concluding to the observation of a spatial dependency of the noise in amplitude.

The present article is an overview of developments and results regarding neutron noise measurements in current mode at the CROCUS zero power facility. Neutron noise measurements offer a non-invasive method to determine kinetic reactor parameters such as the prompt decay constant at criticality α = βeff / λ, the effective delayed neutron fraction βeff, and the mean generation time λ for code validation efforts. At higher detection rates, i.e. above 2×104 cps in the used configuration at 0.1 W, the previously employed pulse charge amplification electronics with BF3 detectors yielded erroneous results due to dead time effects. Future experimental needs call for higher sensitivity in detectors, higher detection rates or higher reactor powers, and thus a generally more versatile measurement system. We, therefore, explored detectors operated with current mode acquisition electronics to accommodate the need. We approached the matter in two ways: 1) By using the two compensated 10B-coated ionization chambers available in CROCUS as operational monitors. The compensated current signal of these chambers was extracted from coremonitoring output channels. 2) By developing a new current mode amplification station to be used with other available detectors in core. Characteristics and first noise measurements of the new current system are presented. We implemented post-processing of the current signals from 1)and 2) with the APSD/CPSD method to determine α. At two critical states (0.5 and 1.5 W), using the 10B ionization chambers and their CPSD estimate, the prompt decay constant was measured after 1.5 hours to be α=(156.9 ± 4.3) s-1 (1σ). This result is within 1σ of statistical uncertainties of previous experiments and MCNPv5-1.6 predictions using the ENDF/B-7.1 library. The newsystem connected to a CFUL01 fission chamber using the APSDestimate at 100 mW after 33 min yielded α = (160.8 ± 6.3) s-1, also within 1σ agreement. The improvements to previous neutron noise measurementsinclude shorter measurement durations that can achievecomparable statistical uncertainties and measurements at higherdetection rates.

PROTEUS is a zero power reactor at the Paul Scherrer Institute which has been employed during the 1970’s to study experimentally the physics of the gas-cooled fast reactor. Reaction rate distributions, flux spectrum and reactivity effects have been measured in several configurations featuring PuO2/UO2 fuel, absorbers, large iron shields, and thorium oxide and thorium metal fuel either distributed quasihomogeneously in the reference PuO2/UO2 lattice or introduced in the form of radial and axial blanket zones. This papers focus on the spectral indices – including fission and capture in 232Th and 237Np - measured in the reference PuO2/UO2 lattices and their predictions with an MCNPX model specially developed for the PROTEUS-GCFR core. Predictions were obtained with JEFF-3.1 and -3.11, ENDF/B-VII.0 and VII.1, and JENDL-3.3 and -4.0. A general good agreement was demonstrated. The ratio of 232Th fission to 239Pu fission, however, was under-predicted by 8.7±2.1% and 6.5±2.1% using ENDF/B-VII.0 and VII.1, respectively. Finally, the capture rates in 237Np tended to be underpredicted by the JEFF and JENDL libraries, although the new cross section in JEFF-3.1.1 slightly improved the 237Np capture to 239Pu fission results (3.4±2.4%).