FEASIBILITY OF CREATING CANDU(R)-LIKE WORKPLACE NEUTRON FIELDS IN AN EXISTING IRRADIATION FACILITY

The feasibility of producing, in an existing irradiation facility, neu tron fields that resemble those found around pressurised, heavy-water- moderated power reactors (e.g CANDU(R) reactors), was investigated by calculation. A radionuclide source, Cf-.252, and neutrons produced wit h a 150 kV accelerator via the reaction H-2(d,n) He-3, were the primar y sources of neutrons. The neutron fields from these sources were mode rated by various materials and the resulting fluence spectra were dete rmined using the Monte Carlo code MCNP. Calculated fluence spectra and dosimetric quantities derived from them were found to compare reasona bly well with their counterparts obtained from measurements made previ ously in CANDU power plants.