SEDL / STP / STP1490-EB / STP45474S

Application of a Silicon Calorimeter in Fast Burst Reactor Environments

Luker, S. Michael
Senior Member of Technical Staff, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Principal Member of Technical Staff, and Distinguished Technologist, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

Griffin, Patrick J.
Senior Member of Technical Staff, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Principal Member of Technical Staff, and Distinguished Technologist, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

DePriest, K. Russell
Senior Member of Technical Staff, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Principal Member of Technical Staff, and Distinguished Technologist, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

King, Donald B.
Senior Member of Technical Staff, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Principal Member of Technical Staff, and Distinguished Technologist, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

Naranjo, Gerald E.
Senior Member of Technical Staff, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Principal Member of Technical Staff, and Distinguished Technologist, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM

Suo-Anttila, Ahti J.
Research Engineer, Alion Science and Technology, Albuquerque, NM

Pages: 8    Published: Jan 2007

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Abstract

Frequently in experiments at fast burst reactors (FBRs), it is necessary to know the dose and peak dose rate absorbed by a material in terms of dose to silicon. The dose to silicon at a given point in an irradiation cannot be reliably measured by a passive dosimeter retrieved at late times from a mixed field environment, so we rely on the silicon calorimeter as the true standard. A silicon calorimeter has been developed for applications in a water-moderated pulsed reactor. In this paper, the authors investigate the application of this silicon calorimeter in an FBR environment. Tests have been conducted at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) FBR, also known as MoLLY-G, to develop techniques to use this silicon calorimeter for a measure of rad(Si) during and soon after a pulsed operation. This calorimeter can be coupled with the response of a diamond photoconductive detector (PCD) in order to derive a dose rate monitor suitable for application during an FBR operation [1].