Monte-Carlo interpretation of the JANUS Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 4 shielding experiments with TRIPOLI-4®

摘要

The JANUS Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 4 shielding experiments performed in the 90's in the NESTOR reactor aimed to study deep neutron propagation in mild steel, stainless steel, sodium and boron carbide. Together with the other JANUS phases (up to Phase 9) they represent invaluable experimental database for improving nuclear data for fast reactor applications. Several detectors were used to measure reaction rates at different energy domains. These experiments are interpreted using multiple nuclear data for iron 56 and sodium 23 with the TRIPOLI-4 (R) Monte-Carlo code. Discrepancies up to 30% are obtained between calculated reaction rates and experimental results, which points out that the nuclear data of iron, sodium as well as some other isotopes contained in stainless steel should be improved. The JANUS Phase 4 is inconclusive as it is similar to Phase 2 replacing some steel shields with boron carbide, but the introduced boron carbide zone is too small to give significantly different results. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.