Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2014) 129: 73
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2014-14073-7

Regular Article

An intrinsically safe facility for forefront research and training on nuclear technologies — A zero-power experiment

¹ Università di Pavia LENA, Via Aselli 41, 27100, Pavia, Italy
² Politecnico di Milano Dip.to Energia, Via La Masa 34, 20156, Milano, Italy
³ Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126, Milano, Italy

^* e-mail: ezio.previtali@mib.infn.it

Received: 2 August 2013
Revised: 21 January 2014
Accepted: 13 February 2014
Published online: 28 April 2014

Abstract

The study of subcritical reactors needs some test to correctly evaluate many parameters that must be introduced in a reactor model. The Sub-critical Multiplication installation at the University of Pavia was used to measure neutron fluxes and multiplication factors that will be modelled with a MCNP Monte Carlo numerical simulation. The comparison between the measurements and the simulations were very promising demonstrating that also in a sub-critical system the Monte Carlo model could be very helpful in describing the reactor characteristics. Using all the collected data from measurements and simulations, it was possible to determine the k _eff of the reactor plant with a reasonable accuracy. The ratio between the fast and the thermal component of the neutron fluxes was also determined.