James Cahill, Victoria Davis, Caleb King, Lilith Miller, Tristan Norrgard, Carlos E. Castano, Reza Mohammadi, Jessika Rojas, Braden Goddard
{"title":"Modeling and benchmarking XRF analysis using MCNP for applications in accident tolerant fuel and cladding","authors":"James Cahill, Victoria Davis, Caleb King, Lilith Miller, Tristan Norrgard, Carlos E. Castano, Reza Mohammadi, Jessika Rojas, Braden Goddard","doi":"10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105487","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is an interest in using nondestructive testing (NDT) methods for the preliminary investigation of accident-tolerant fuel cladding materials, such as chromium (Cr) coated Zircaloy-4 (Zr4). One promising application is X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. Computational methods, such as Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport (MCNP) 6.2, can be used to expand algorithms based on XRF measurements, however, it has been demonstrated that MCNP is more sensitive to modeling imperfections at lower energies (<span><math><mrow><mo>≤</mo></mrow></math></span> 80 keV). In this work, several MCNP models were developed to evaluate the XRF measurements given by a Niton XL-5 device to minimize deviations at low energies. The final model was benchmarked to an experimental XRF measurement of Cr-coated Zr4 taken by the XL-5. The percent error in the resulting XRF peak intensities was within <span><math><mrow><mo>±</mo></mrow></math></span> 4.92% for the K<sub>α1</sub> peaks and within <span><math><mrow><mo>±</mo></mrow></math></span> 16.0% for the K<sub>β1</sub>. The discrepancies in the magnitude of these errors are largely due to the K<sub>β1</sub> peaks having far fewer counts in the spectra that were compared. Nonetheless, these results demonstrate the potential for MCNP 6.2 to accurately predict low-energy X-ray interactions such as XRF. The deviations observed were similar to those seen in the 0.1–1 MeV range in prior works, despite only being in the <span><math><mrow><mo>∼</mo></mrow></math></span> 5–30 keV range themselves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20617,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Nuclear Energy","volume":"178 ","pages":"Article 105487"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Progress in Nuclear Energy","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149197024004372","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
There is an interest in using nondestructive testing (NDT) methods for the preliminary investigation of accident-tolerant fuel cladding materials, such as chromium (Cr) coated Zircaloy-4 (Zr4). One promising application is X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. Computational methods, such as Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport (MCNP) 6.2, can be used to expand algorithms based on XRF measurements, however, it has been demonstrated that MCNP is more sensitive to modeling imperfections at lower energies ( 80 keV). In this work, several MCNP models were developed to evaluate the XRF measurements given by a Niton XL-5 device to minimize deviations at low energies. The final model was benchmarked to an experimental XRF measurement of Cr-coated Zr4 taken by the XL-5. The percent error in the resulting XRF peak intensities was within 4.92% for the Kα1 peaks and within 16.0% for the Kβ1. The discrepancies in the magnitude of these errors are largely due to the Kβ1 peaks having far fewer counts in the spectra that were compared. Nonetheless, these results demonstrate the potential for MCNP 6.2 to accurately predict low-energy X-ray interactions such as XRF. The deviations observed were similar to those seen in the 0.1–1 MeV range in prior works, despite only being in the 5–30 keV range themselves.
期刊介绍:
Progress in Nuclear Energy is an international review journal covering all aspects of nuclear science and engineering. In keeping with the maturity of nuclear power, articles on safety, siting and environmental problems are encouraged, as are those associated with economics and fuel management. However, basic physics and engineering will remain an important aspect of the editorial policy. Articles published are either of a review nature or present new material in more depth. They are aimed at researchers and technically-oriented managers working in the nuclear energy field.
Please note the following:
1) PNE seeks high quality research papers which are medium to long in length. Short research papers should be submitted to the journal Annals in Nuclear Energy.
2) PNE reserves the right to reject papers which are based solely on routine application of computer codes used to produce reactor designs or explain existing reactor phenomena. Such papers, although worthy, are best left as laboratory reports whereas Progress in Nuclear Energy seeks papers of originality, which are archival in nature, in the fields of mathematical and experimental nuclear technology, including fission, fusion (blanket physics, radiation damage), safety, materials aspects, economics, etc.
3) Review papers, which may occasionally be invited, are particularly sought by the journal in these fields.