SINBAD ABSTRACT NEA-1517/66
Ispra Iron Benchmark Experiment (EURACOS)
1. Name of Experiment:
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Ispra Iron Benchmark Experiment (EURACOS) (~1986)
2. Purpose and Phenomena Tested:
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Study of the neutron deep penetration in homogeneous materials commonly
used in the construction of advanced reactors: Fe (and Na). Flux and
spectra were measured up to 130 cm in Fe.
Experience gained from Aspis experiment was used to prepare this benchmark.
3. Description of the Source and Experimental Configuration:
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The neutron source in a converter disc made of 6 trapezoidal U-Al alloy
plates forming an almost circular source with a diameter of 80 cm. The
space dependence of the source can be approximated by a cosinusoidal
radial profile. The spectrum is very similar to the U235 fission spectrum.
The EURACOS source strength (6.12E11 n/s) is about of the same order of
magnitude as the one of Aspis.
The converter is situated at the end of the thermal column of a TRIGA MARK II
reactor (University of Pavia) in front of the irradiation chamber which is
surrounded by borated concrete walls of two different compositions.
The first part extending from 35 cm to 162.4 cm from the converter
mid-plane (see Fig. 1) consists of ordinary concrete with a density of
2.3 g/cm3. The second part of the tunnel shield is made of heavy concrete
with a density of 3.6 g/cm3.
The iron mock-up is a block of dimensions 145x145x130 cm3. A Boral plate
was placed between the source and the Fe block to reduce the low energy
flux originating in the thermal column.
Use of large sulphur detectors, and low background measurements during a
counting period of 5-6 half lives, made it possible to measure attenuation
up to 8 decades of fast neutrons.
4. Measurement System and Uncertainties:
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The detectors used were:
Detector Diameter Thickness Error
(cm) (cm) (%)
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S-32(n,p)P-32 2 0.2 - 1 5.6 - 15.5
In-115(n,n')In-115m (*) 10 - 15
Rh-103(n,n')Rh-103m (*) 5 - 8
Au-197(n,gamma)Au-198/under Cd (1mm) 1.0 0.01 5 - 8
NE213 liquid scintillator spectrometer volume = 3.35 cm3
gas proportional counters 4.04 (spherical)
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(*) thin foils, can be neglected in the calculation.
The gold foil consists of an Au/Al alloy with 0.1 wt% gold content. The
thickness of the Cd coating is 1 mm.
The energy resolution of the proton recoil spectrometers is between 5 and 15%.
5. Description of Results and Analysis:
-----------------------------------
Measurements with activation detectors were carried out approximately
every 8 cm up to the depth of 60 cm with In(n,n'), 94 cm with S(n,p) and
Rh(n,n'), and 133.5 cm with Au(n,gamma).
The energy range between 14 keV and 10 MeV was covered with liquid scintillator
spectrometer and gas proportional counters.
In the case of the scintillation counters the neutron spectra were furnished
by the NE213 code applying the differential method. For proportional gas
counters the spectra were unfolded by the SPEC4 code [9].
The neutron spectra are given at 6 locations (22, 38, 54, 70, 86, 102 cm).
As the authors are not completely confident that the unfolding was performed
according to state-of-the-art procedures, the original distributions of the
impulses measured by spectrometers and the detector geometry are included as
well for those who wish to carry out their own unfolding.
MCNP-3 calculations performed using various flux estimators are described in [6].
More recently this benchmark was studied by Dr Steven C. van der Marck, NRG,
NL - 1755 ZG Petten (vandermarck@nrg-nl.com). He prepare a new input for
MCNP-4c 'mcnp4-fe.inp' from the original MCNP-3 file (mcnp3-fe.inp). Few details
on the updates and results are given in eufe-cal.htm.
6. Special Features:
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None
7. Author/Organizer
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Experiment and analysis:
R. Nicks, G. Perlini, H. Rief
Joint Research Centre, Ispra, 21020 Ispra (Varese), Italy
Compiler of data for Sinbad:
I. Kodeli
OCDE/NEA, 12 bd des Iles, 92130 Issy les Moulineaux, France
Reviewer of compiled data:
H. Rief
Joint Research Centre, Ispra, 21020 Ispra, Italy
8. Availability:
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Unrestricted
9. References:
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[1] Nicks R., Perlini G. and Rief H., Project and performances of the EURACOS II
irradiation facility. Technical Note No. 1.05.00.85.45, JRC Ispra. (1985)
[2] Nicks R., Perlini G., Rief H., Fission neutron penetration in iron and
sodium-I. Activation measurements. Ann. Nucl. Energy 15, p.457 (1988)
[3] Perlini G., Rief H., Fission neutron penetration in iron and sodium-II.
Neutron spectrometry. Ann. Nucl. Energy 16, p.189 (1988)
[4] R. Nicks et al., "Iron and sodium benchmark experiments at EURACOS II-
Part I: Activation measurements", NEACRP Specialists' Meeting on Shielding
Benchmark, Paris, October 13-14, 1986.
[5] G. Perlini, H. Rief, M.D. Carter, N.F. Murphy, The S32(n,p)P32 threshold
detector and its application for fast neutron dosimetry (fast reactors and
fusion reactors), Reactor Dosimetry, ECSC, ECC and EAEC, Brussels and
Luxembourg, p.457 (1985)
[6] H. Rief, Shamsi T. A., Aglietti-Zanon M. and Vittone E., EURACOS 10.
Team EN.102/017 (1987)
[7] R. Garofoli, G. Gonano, G. Perlini, H. Rief, Fast neutron attenuation in
large iron and sodium columns, 9th European Triga Conference, C.R.E.,
Casaccia, Roma, (1986)
[8] G. Perlini, M. Carter and S. Acerbis, Neutron spectrometry in iron,
Report EUR 11767 EN, Ispra. (1988)
[9] P.W. Benjamin, The analysis of recoil proton spectra, AWRE 09/68,
Aldermaston, Berks (1968)
10. Data and Format:
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DETAILED FILE DESCRIPTIONS
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Filename Size[bytes] Content
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1 eufe-abs.htm 13.901 This information file
2 eufe-exp.htm 19.718 Description of experiment
3 EURFE.TB1 25.596 Tables of neutron spectra
4 EURFE.TB2 177.736 Tables of measured impulses
5 eufe-cal.htm 4.376 Description of transport calculations
6 mcnp3-fe.inp 6.722 Input Data for MCNP-3 Code
7 mcnp4-fe.inp 10.972 Input Data for MCNP-4c Code provided
8 Eurfe-1v.gif 10.969 Figure 1: Cross-section view of the EURACOS2 facility (preview)
9 Eurfe-2v.gif 23.274 Figure 2: Schematics of the experimental configuration (preview)
10 Eurfe-3v.gif 13.526 Figure 3: U-235 neutron converter (preview)
11 Eurfe-4v.gif 10.556 Figure 4: Sulphur detector support device (preview)
12 Eurfe-5v.gif 7.976 Figure 5: MCNP geometry (preview)
13 Eurfe-6v.gif 9.149 Figure 6: SP2 proportional counter (preview)
14 eurfe-7.jpg 322.220 Figure 7: 3D view of the EURACOS2 iron experiment (preview)
15 EURFE-1V.TIF 26.832 Figure 1: Cross-section view of the EURACOS2 facility (high quality)
16 EURFE-2V.TIF 41.768 Figure 2: Schematics of the experimental configuration (high quality)
17 EURFE-3V.TIF 13.118 Figure 3: U-235 neutron converter (high quality)
18 EURFE-4V.TIF 15.406 Figure 4: Sulphur detector support device (high quality)
19 EURFE-5V.TIF 11.520 Figure 5: MCNP geometry (high quality)
20 EURFE-6V.TIF 18.848 Figure 6: SP2 proportional counter (high quality)
21 eur_01.pdf 1.139.611 Ref.: R. Nicks et al., Project and Performances of the EURACOS II Irradiation Facility
22 eur_02.pdf 537.382 Ref.: R. Nicks et al., Fission Neutron Penetration in Iron and
Sodium-I. Activation Measurements.
23 eur_03.pdf 503.082 Ref.: G. Perlini, H. Rief, Fission Neutron Penetration in Iron
and Sodium-II. Neutron spectrometry
24 eur_04.pdf 655.408 Ref.: R. Nicks et al., Iron and Sodium Benchmark Experiments
at EURACOS II- Part I: Activation Measurements
25 eur_05.pdf 185.260 Ref.: G. Perlini et al., The S32(n,p)P32 Threshold Detector
and its Application for Fast Neutron Dosimetry
26 eur_06.pdf 3.944.371 Ref.: H. Rief et al., EURACOS 10. Team EN.102/017
27 eur_07.pdf 384.022 Ref.: R. Garofoli et al., Fast Neutron Attenuation in Large
Iron and Sodium Columns
28 eur_fe_8.pdf 2.721.200 Ref.: G. Perlini et al., Neutron Spectrometry in Iron
29 eur_11.pdf 208.011 Ref.: H. Rief, Integral Shielding Benchmarks: Status of the EURACOS
Iron & Sodium Deep Penetration Experiments.
30 eur_12.pdf 342.330 Ref.: G. Perlini, G. Gonano, The EURACOS Deep Penetration Iron Benchmark Experiment
31 eur_13.pdf 404.659 Ref.: G. Perlini, H. Rief, The EURACOS Irradiation Facility
32 eur_15.pdf 397.685 Ref.: R.-D. Bachle et al., Consistency Check of Iron and Sodium
Cross-Sections with Integral Benchmark Experiments Using a Large Amount of Experimental Information
33 eur_16.pdf 823.089 Ref.: Y. Yeivin, The EURACOS Activation Experiments: Preliminary Uncertainty Analysis, EUR 8011 EN
34 eur_17.pdf 432.065 Ref.: G. Hehn et al., Adjustment of Neutron Multigroup Cross
Sections with Error Covariance Matrices to Deep Penetration Integral Experiments
35 eur_18.pdf 638.823 Ref.: G. Pfister et al., Validation of Multigroup Cross-Sections of JEF-1 Data
with Single Material Deep Penetration Benchmarks
36 eur_19.pdf 440.870 Ref.: EURACOS Iron and Sodium Benchmark Analysis: A Comparison of JEFl and
BMCCS1 Cross Sections in Deep Penetration Experiments
37 eur_20.pdf 318.053 Ref.: G. Perlini et al., Interpretation of the EURACOS Iron and Sodium Benchmarks
38 eur_21.pdf 200.479 Ref.: Yen-Wan H. Liu et al., Calculations of EURADOS Iron
Benchmark Experiment Using the Hybrid Method
Files EUFE-EXP.HTM, EURFE.TB1, EURFE.TB2 contain the following tables:
5 tables of chemical composition of materials present in the configuration
8 tables of measured reaction rates
6 tables of spectra derived from measurements using SPEC4 unfolding code
6 tables of neutron spectra measurement and processing conditions
41 tables of measured impulses used for unfolding an input example for SPEC 4
code.
Figures are included in GIF, JPG and TIF formats.
SINBAD Benchmark Generation Date: 07/1995
SINBAD Benchmark Last Update: 12/2003
