Neutronic Modeling and Thermal Neutron Flux Measurement of The MCR6 Rod in The NRU Reactor

Abstract

The six-barrel Multiple-Capsule Water Cooled Rods (MCR6) in the NRU reactor have been used to produce isotopes such as I-131 and Ir-192. This paper describes the modeling of the MCR6 rods and the simulation method used to predict the neutron fluxes. The sensitivity of various radioisotope loadings of MCR6 rods upon flux and power perturbations of neighbouring rods is investigated. This paper also presents the results of thermal neutron flux measurements in one of the MCR6 rods from gold wire detectors using the neutron activation technique. The measured fluxes match very well with the simulated fluxes, within + 2%.