Pages: 31-46

Authors: Stoyan H. Kadalev

Abstract

The present paper considers the approach to an assessment of technological radiation sources in the primary water-water reactor circulation loop. In principle, such an evaluation is a multidisciplinary task that covers not only the irradiation of the nuclei, the formation of new isotopes and their decay when they are unstable, but also calculations in the field of hydraulics in order to perform an assessment of the irradiation time and the decay time. A general and a more detailed review of the radiation sources formation in the nuclear facilities and the pool type research reactors with demineralized water as a heat carrier are prepared. The initial isotopic composition of the heat carrier has been adopted according to the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The general mathematical model of the processes of nuclei irradiation, the formation of new isotopes and their decay, the assessment of the irradiation time and the decay time is described in details, enabling the repetition of this evaluation to a particular facility. The presented approach is applied in the reconstruction design of the nuclear research reactor IRT-2000, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Key words: induced radiation, heat carrier activation, technological radiation source

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