Neutron spectra and dose-rate measurements around a transport cask for spent reactor fuel

摘要

A storage facility with a capacity of 420 containers is available for the interim storage of spent fuel from power reactors at the village of Gorleben in Germany. During transportation and storage of spent fuel casks radiation exposure of the personnel is dominated by neutrons. The routine control of the dose rate limits according to the transport regulations and the licence of the storage facility is performed with conventional neutron survey meters. These monitors, calibrated for fast neutrons at radionuclide neutron sources, usually overestimate the real dose rate in unknown neutron fields. In this paper, a series of measurements with several monitoring instruments near a transport cask of the CASTOR type is presented. The results are compared with reference data for the does equivalents calculated from the measured fluence spectra using a Bonner multisphere spectrometer. Besides reliable information about neutron spectra and dose rates at the container, it was found that some of the rem counters overestimate the true dose rate by a factor of 2 or more.