Evaluation of the OSCAR-4/MCNP Calculation Methodology for Radioisotope Production in the SAFARI-1 Reactor

Abstract

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation SOC Ltd (Necsa) is a state owned nuclear facility which owns and operates SAFARI-1, a 20 MW material testing reactor. SAFARI-1 is a multi-purpose reactor and is used for the production of radioisotopes through in-core sample irradiation. The Radiation and Reactor Theory (RRT) Section of Necsa supports SAFARI-1 operations with nuclear engineering analyses which include core-reload design, core-follow and radiation transport analyses. The primary computer codes that are used for the analyses are the OSCAR-4 nodal diffusion core simulator and the Monte Carlo transport code MCNP. RRT has developed a calculation methodology based on OSCAR-4 and MCNP to simulate the diverse in- core irradiation conditions in SAFARI-1, for the purpose of radioisotope production. In this paper we present the OSCAR-4/MCNP calculation methodology and the software tools that were developed for rapid and reliable construction of MCNP analysis models. The paper will present the application and accuracy of the methodology for the production of yttrium-90 (90Y) and will include comparisons between calculation results and experimental measurements. The paper will also present sensitivity analyses that were performed to determine the effects of control rod bank position, representation of core depletion state and sample loading configuration, on the calculated 90Y sample activity.