Displacement damage cross section and mechanical properties calculation of an Es-Salam research reactor aluminum vessel

Nuclear facility aging is one of the biggest problems encountered in nuclear engineering. Radiation damage is among one of the aging causes. This kind of damage is an important factor of mechanical properties deterioration. The interest of this study is on the Es-Salam research reactor aluminum vessel aging due to neutron radiation. Monte Carlo(MC) simulations were performed by MCNP6 and SRIM codes to estimate the defects created by neutrons in the vessel. MC simulations by MCNP6 have been performed to determine the distribution of neutron fluence and primary knock-on atom(PKA) creation. Considering our boundary conditions of the calculations, the helium and hydrogen gas production in the model at a normalized total neutron flux of 6.62×10^(12) n/cm^2 s were determined to be 2.86 × 10~8 and 1.33 × 10~9 atoms/cm^3 s,respectively. The SRIM code was used for the simulation of defects creation(vacancies, voids) in the aluminum alloy of the Es-Salam vessel(EsAl) by helium and hydrogen with an approximate energy of 11 MeV each.The coupling between the two codes is based upon postprocessing of the particle track(PTRAC) output file generated by the MCNP6. A small program based on the Mat Lab language is performed to condition the output file MCNP6 in the format of a SRIM input file. The concentration of silicon was determined for the vessel by the calculation of the total rate of ^(27)Al(n,γ)^(28)Si reaction. The DPA(displacement per atom) was calculated in SRIM according to R.E. Stoller recommendations; the calculated value is 0.02 at a fast neutron fluence 1.89 × 10^(19) n/cm^2.RCC-MRx standard for 6061-T6 aluminum was used for the simulation of the evolution of mechanical properties for high fluence. The calculated values of nuclear parameters and DPA obtained were in agreement with the experimental results from the Oak Ridge High Flux Isotope Reactor(HFIR) reported by Farrell and coworkers.

Water equivalence of some 3D dosimeters:a theoretical study based on the effective atomic number and effective fast neutron removal cross section

Effective atomic numbers for photon energy absorption(ZPEA_(eff)) and their corresponding electron numbers (NPEA_(eff)), and effective macroscopic removal cross sections of fast neutrons(RR) were calculated for 27 different types of three-dimensional dosimeters, four types of phantom materials, and water. The values of ZPEA_(eff) and NPEA_(eff) were obtained using the direct method for energies ranging from 10 keV to 20 MeV. Results are presented relative to water, for direct comparison over the range of examined energies. The effect of monomers that are used in polymer gel dosimeters on the water equivalence is discussed. The relation between Σ_R and hydrogen content was studied. Micelle gel dosimeters are highly promising because our results demonstrate perfect matching between the effective atomic number, electron density number, and fast neutron attenuation coefficient of water.

Calculation of photon shielding properties for some neutron shielding materials

The objective of the present study is to calculate photon shielding parameters for seven polyethylene-based neutron shielding materials. The parameters include the effective atomic number(Z_(eff)), the effective electron density(N_(eff)) for photon interaction and photon energy absorption,and gamma-ray kerma coefficient(kc). The calculations of Z_(eff)are presented as a single-valued and are energy dependent. While Z_(eff)values were calculated via simplistic powerlaw method, the energy-dependent Z_(eff)for photon interaction(Z_(PI-eff)) and photon energy absorption(Z_(PEA-eff)) are obtained via the direct method for energy ranges of 1 keV–100 GeV and 1 keV–20 Me V, respectively. The kccoefficients are calculated by summing the contributions of the major partial photon interactions for energy range of 1 keV–100 MeV. In most cases, data are presented relative to pure polyethylene to allow direct comparison over a range of energy. The results show that combination of polyethylene with other elements such as lithium and aluminum leads to neutron shielding material with more ability to absorb neutron and crays. Also, the kerma coefficient first increases with Z of the additive element at low photon energies and then converges with pure polyethylene at energies greater than 100 keV.

A study on compatibility of experimental effective atomic numbers with those predicted by ZXCOM

In this study, effective atomic numbers(Zeff) of materials determined at different experimental conditions by measuring the elastic-to-inelastic γ-ray scattering ratios are compared to ZXCOM predictions. It also presents the experimental data obtained via the transmission technique The agreement and disagreement between ZXCOM and experimental values are investigated. The theoretical basics of determining Zeffby scattering mode are outlined. The study shows that choosing appropriate experimental conditions can provide a good compatibility between the experimental results and theoretical ZXCOM

Features on Very Peripheral Collisions of 16O-Em at 3.7A GeV

From 1540 inelastic interactions of 3. 7A GeV 160 projectile with emulsion nuclei, we select samples of 87 and 61 events carefully due to interactions of neutron （n） and singly charged particles （Z = 1）, respectively. New results concerning the topology of such events are investigated. The average multiplicities of secondary relativistic particles that appear as shower tracks for n and Z = 1 stay more or less constant when compared with analogous data on p-Em at similar energy. The multiplicity distributions and the average values of the various secondary charged particles are studied and compared with the corresponding predictions by the cascade evaporation model. The results assume that the n or Z = 1 from 16O collide peripherally with an emulsion target and are considered as an expansion to the N-N collisions.

System size dependence in backward relativistic hadron production in pA and AA collisions

Abstract： In this comprehensive study the multiplicity characteristics of the backward emitted relativistic hadron （shower particle） through hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus are overviewed in three dimensions. These dimensions are the projectile size, target size, and energy. To confirm the universality in this production system, wide ranges of system size and energy （Elab～2.1 A up to 200 A GeV） are used. The multiplicity characteristics of this hadron imply a limiting behavior with respect to the projectile size and energy. The target size is the main effective parameter in this production system. The exponential decay shapes is a characteristic feature of the backward shower particle multiplicity distributions. The decay constant changes with the target size to be nearly 2.02, 1.41, and 1.12 for the interactions with CNO, Era, and AgBr nuclei, respectively, irrespective of the projectile size and energy. While the backward production probability and average multiplicity are constants at different projectile sizes and energies, they can be correlated with the target size in power law relations.

Multiplicity characteristics in relativistic ^(24)Mg-nucleus collisions

This work is concerned with the analyses of the shower and gray particle production in 4.5 A GeV/c 24Mg collision with emulsion nuclei. The highest particle production occurs in the region of the low impact parameters. While the multiplicity of the shower particles emitted in the forward direction depends on the projectile mass number and energy, the multiplicity of the backward ones shows a limiting behaviour. The source of the emission of the forward shower particles is completely different from that of the backward ones. The target fragments are produced in a thermalized system of emission.

Pion emission in α-particle interactions with various targets of nuclear emulsion detector

The behavior of relativistic hadron multiplicity for 4He-nucleus interactions is investigated. The experi- ment is carried out at 2.1 A and 3.7 A GeV （Dubna energy） to search for the incident energy effect on the interactions inside different emulsion target nuclei. Data are presented in terms of the number of emitted relativistic hadrons in both forward and backward angular zones. The dependence on the target size is presented. For this purpose the statistical events are discriminated into groups according to the interactions with H, CNO, Em, and AgBr target nuclei. The separation of events, into the mentioned groups, is executed based on Glauber＇s multiple scattering theory approach. Features suggestive of a decay mechanism seem to be a characteristic of the backward emission of relativistic hadrons. The results strongly support the assumption that the relativistic hadrons may already be emitted during the de-excitation of the excited target nucleus, in a behavior like that of compound-nucleus disintegration. Regarding the limiting fragmentation hypothesis beyond 1 A GeV, the target size is the main parameter affecting the backward production of the relativistic hadron. The incident energy is a principal factor responsible for the forward relativistic hadron production, implying that this system of particle production is a creation system. However, the target size is an effective parameter as well as the projectile size considering the geometrical concept regarded in the nuclear fireball model. The data are analyzed in the framework of the FRITIOF model.