Gamma spectrometry inspection of TRIGA MARK II fuel using caesium isotopes

Gamma spectrometry is one of the common methods to inspect the spent fuel from research reactors. This method has been applied to in-pool measurements of the Spent Fuel Elements (SPEs) of the TRIGA Mark II research reactor. Due to mixed nature of the reactor core and complicated irradiation history of the fuel elements (FEs), the gamma spectrometry of the FE establishes improvements in the calculation and measurement of the SPE. In order to inspect the TRIGA SPE from dry storage and cooled fuel from the reactor pool, the selected spend fuels are scanned and measured using the fuel-scanning machine. Gamma spectrometry is performed by HPGe detector for spend fuel inspection and determination of the 137Cs activity and 134Cs/137Cs ratio. In this work, the steps of the detector calibration and the use of the Monte Carlo radiation transport code (MCNP5) have been described. In addition, the fuel-scanning machine and the gamma spectrometer are modelled by MCNP5 to simulate the gamma transport from fuel to detector. It also simulate the gamma spectrometer calibration for the burn up determination of the spend fuel. The results from MCNP5 simulation are applied to spectroscopic measurements and compared with the theoretical predictions of the neutronics code ORIGEN2 in this research work.

Research highlights▶ Cs isotopes are the best choices for the burn up determination of spent fuel. ▶ Gamma spectrometer calibration using MCNP5. ▶ Cs-ratio can be applied by relative calibration method.