RADIONUCLIDE INVENTORY CALCULATIONS IN VVER-440

REACTOR COMPONENTS

Amine Bouhaddane, Gabriel Farkas, Vladimír Slugeň

Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
Institute of Nuclear and Physical Engineering
amine.bouhaddane@stuba.sk, gabriel.farkas@stuba.sk, vladimir.slugen@stuba.sk

ABSTRACT

The paper briefly describes the issue of radionuclide inventory determination in

decommissioned nuclear power plants with emphasis on the VVER-440 reactor type.
According to radionuclide inventory calculation, it is possible to optimize the time frame and
choose the appropriate dismantling procedure during the disposal of reactor internal and
external components during the decommissioning phase of a nuclear power plant. Due to high
technological and financial demands in the case of in situ measurements or sampling, it is
important to use validated code systems to precisely estimate the radionuclide inventory.
Prerequisite for a correct calculation is the collection of reactor operation data. In this paper,
abilities of MCNPX code in this field is presented on the example of calculation for the
shielding (dummy) elements used in V-230 reactor in Jaslovské Bohunice Nuclear Power
Plant. These elements were installed into the reactor core in order to protect the reactor
pressure vessel from high neutron flux. They also represent the most activated component of
the reactor.

INTRODUCTION

The average age of the operational VVER reactors in the world is around 25 years
[1], [2]. With entering the second half of their planned life time, the importance of creating
proper decommissioning planning rises. An integral part of decommissioning scenario
preparation is the radiological characterization of the nuclear power plant (NPP). As it will be
described later, the main part of the radionuclide inventory in a shutdown nuclear reactor after
fuel removal is concentrated in the neutron activated structural components. This radionuclide
inventory is difficult and expensive to measure. Hereat, it is important to provide accurate
calculations performed by validated computer codes or systems. In this work, the possibility
to calculate radionuclide inventory using MCNPX code will be demonstrated on the example
of the VVER-440/V-230 from the V-1 NPP in Jaslovské Bohunice.
 1. RADIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION

After the reactor shutdown and irradiated fuel removal, two categories of
radionuclides are the main contributors to the radioactive inventory: the activation products
bound in the reactor structural materials designated as induced activity and radionuclides from
materials contamination, which are activated corrosion and erosion products conveyed by
coolant, dispersed fuel particles and fission products escaping through cladding breaches and
settling on the cover primary circuit components. This means that a radiological
characterization of a nuclear facility is a result from contamination and activation of
materials. For reactors, where during operation no accident occurred, the principal component
of radioactive inventory is, in terms of reactor decommissioning, the activation of its
structural materials. Activation products are localized and bound in the material surrounding
the nuclear fuel irradiated by neutrons. Neutron activated materials are therefore structural
materials inside the reactor pressure vessel (RPV), but also in the areas of the reactor thermal
and biological shield consisting of reinforced concrete as well as in the spent fuel pool and in
the interim spent fuel storage baskets for SNF.

In terms of the decommissioning processes, it is necessary to know the accurate

inventory of induced activity for the individual reactor structural parts, in order to determine
the quantity and type of radioactivity that effects: the decommissioning scenario selection
process, the application of certain dismantling techniques, the requisite for decontamination,
waste treatment method and of course the possibility of reducing the workers dose load too.
Therefore, the objective of a characterization program is to obtain representative calculations,
in situ measurements and samples/analyses which provide an understanding of the
radiological conditions that will be encountered during decommissioning.

2. RADIONUCLIDE INVENTORY CALCULATION

In an ideal case, there are samples of irradiated materials such that laboratory analyses
may be performed to determine individual radionuclide activities and concentrations.
However, this process can be expensive and difficult for highly activated components and
structures where trace amounts of sample material can produce radiation dose rates in the
range of Gy/h [3]. Due to this fact, validated computer codes and methodologies are important
to calculate the induced activity in the reactor and its immediate surroundings.

The calculation of neutron induced activities requires, as a first step, knowledge of the
spatial and energy distributions of the neutron flux throughout the system. The neutron flux is
then used to determine the individual reaction rates of the parent radionuclides whose
daughters give rise to the ionizing radiations. These reaction rates are then used to obtain the
level of activity per weight unit of parent element according to the reactor irradiation history
and the subsequent decay time. The final stage is the calculation of the component activity
from the ‘known’ concentration of the parent elements in the material from which the
component is manufactured, together with the mass of the components. ‘Known’ means
averaged value obtained in the course of the composition sampling programme or inferred
from other relevant information (e.g. from the reactor builders) [3].
 First comprehensive radionuclide inventory calculations for VVER-440 reactors were
performed in late 1980´s in Finland for the Loviisa nuclear power plant. They were carried
out at VTT Energy (then Nuclear Engineering Laboratory of the Technical Research Centre of
Finland) [4], [5], [6], [7]. Further calculation´s results (not only) for VVER reactors can be
found in [3], [8], [9] and others.

3. MCNPX SIMULATION

In following simulation, the MCNPX (Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended) version

2.7.0 was employed. MCNPX is a general-purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport code for
modeling the interaction of radiation with matter. This code enables precise three-dimensional
modeling of the active zone and of the reactor internals [10]. The requirements for the code
were: a well validated neutron physics implementation, including access to established
evaluated data files (continuous energy neutron cross-section libraries ENDF/B–VII.0), a
possibility of isotope production via neutron capture, inelastic neutron scattering, elastic
scattering and other and more complex reaction channels, including multiple reactions.
Moreover, MCNPX was explicitly developed for neutron-based simulations [11].

Based on the technical documentation from NPP in Jaslovské Bohunice Unit 1&2, it
was possible to create a simplified VVER-440/V-230 reactor model, which can be used for
further calculations. The model consists of the active zone, the reactor internal components
and is delimited by the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). The one-sixth model utilizes
symmetrical geometry of this reactor type. In this model you can find the fuel assemblies with
flat enrichment, control rods, dummy elements and reactor internal structural parts (core
support barrel, reactor shaft, reactor pressure vessel). Thus, the main structural elements were
preserved.

Fig. 1 Horizontal section of the active zone: 1 – RPV, 2 – austenitic and reinforcing RPV weld pad, 3
–coolant, 4 – reactor shaft, 5 – core support barrel, 6 – dummy element, 7 – fuel assembly, 8 – control
rod, 9 – 6th group control rod.
 The ability of MCNPX to calculate directly the activation, using the included
CINDER90 module, was utilized. Dummy elements were chosen for the calculation, because
of their position (closest to the active core), which enables shorter calculation time (transport
of neutron) and lower uncertainties.

Potentially occurring radionuclides are limited by the chemical composition of

structural materials. Some of them can be neglected due to their neutron-physical properties,
e.g. low activation rate or short half-life. The dummy elements are made of the 08Ch18N10T
austenitic steel (structural material also for fuel assemblies, control rods, dummy elements
etc.). See chemical composition in Tab. 1.

Tab. 1. Chemical composition of the 08Ch18N10T steel [12].

Element Weight [%]
C 0.080
N 0.050
Si 0.800
P 0.035
S 0.020
Ti 0.500
V 0.200
Cr 18.000
Mn 1.500
Fe 68.065
Co 0.050
Ni 10.000
Mo 0.500
W 0.200

4. RESULTS

The calculations were performed for the first 8 campaigns after installation of the
dummy elements into the active zone. The mean burnup value per campaign for the fuel was
considered 16 MWd/kgU according to the data from the 13th campaign of the V-1 reactor. The
vast majority of the activity was presented by the activity of radionuclides with short half-life,
which will decay in the first months after the reactor shutdown. Therefore, the total activity in
this calculation is determined only for the radionuclides with half-life around one year or
more.

In Tab. 2 you can see the total activities of selected radionuclides, which were
produced in the dummy elements during their first 8 reactor campaigns in EBO Unit 1 (after
reducing the zone and change of the loading pattern). The uncertainty of the MCNPX results
is estimated not to exceed 5%. These results are calculated for the time directly at the outage
of the reactor.
 Tab. 2. Total activity of selected radionuclides in one dummy element.
Radiation
Radionuclide T1/2 type Ai [Bq]

55
Fe 2.73 y EC (X) 3.97E+15
54
Mn 312.3 d EC (γ) 3.40E+14
60
Co 5.2714 y β- (γ) 7.22E+14
63
Ni 100.1 y β- 1.11E+14
57
Co 271.79 d EC 3.81E+12
59
Ni 7.6E04 y EC (X) 7.68E+11
93
Mo 4.0E03 y EC (X) 1.35E+10
94
Nb 2.03E04 y β- (γ) 3.47E+06
Total activity of selected radionuclides: 5.152E+15
*EC – electron capture, X – X-ray emission β-

Fig. 2 represents the course of the summary activity of selected radionuclides (see
Tab. 2) in all 36 dummy elements after installation into the Unit 1´s active zone before the
13th campaign.

6E+17
5E+17
4E+17
A [Bq]

3E+17
2E+17
1E+17
0
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Campaign

Fig. 2 Course of the summary activity of selected radionuclides in all Unit 1´s dummy
elements during first 8 campaigns after installation.

After irradiation in the active zone during the reactor operation, the radioactive decay
will take place. The activity of the short-lived radionuclides (e.g. 58Co T1/2=70.86 days , 59Fe
T1/2=44.503 days) falls sharp, leaving the long-lived radionuclides to dominate the total
activity (see Fig. 3). According to the results, 55Fe (half-life 2.73 years) will be the most
important activation product in the first 14 years after reactor operation. However, with
considering of longer irradiation time (e.g. 15 and more campaigns, as it was in V-1 NPP),
this period will be shorter, approximately 10 years. In the next years 60Co and 63Ni will be
mostly responsible for the total activity of the dummy elements.
 1,00E+17 55Fe
1,00E+16
1,00E+15 58Co
1,00E+14
1,00E+13 59Fe
1,00E+12
1,00E+11 54Mn
1,00E+10
A [Bq]

1,00E+09 60Co
1,00E+08
1,00E+07 63Ni
1,00E+06
1,00E+05 59Ni
1,00E+04
1,00E+03 57Co
1,00E+02
1,00E+01 93Mo
1,00E+00
0 10 20 30 40 50 Σ activity of
t [y] selected RN
Fig. 3 The course of activity of selected radionuclides during first 50 years after reactor shutdown.

In order to achieve estimation of the precision of the calculations, the activity of 60Co
in time one month after the reactor shutdown was compared to the results from the Hungarian
calculation (see Tab. 3). Dummy elements were not installed in the Armenian NPP in
Armenia, therefore the results for the reactor basket from the [13] calculation were chosen,
because it is the closest component to the active zone and this two reactor components are
made of the same 08Ch18N10T austenitic steel in the first place. Essentially, the activity of
the dummy elements is expected to be higher as of the reactor basket, because they are a
direct part of the active zone. However, this comparison can be taken into account only on
principle to present propriety of the results. The mass of the reactor basket is 22.00 t and the
dummy elements (36 pieces) weigh together 10.44 t. Plus the irradiation period presented in
this paper includes only 8 campaigns unlike the calculations for ANPP performed for 30 and
more years of operation.

Tab. 3 Total 60Co –activity of the reactor components 1 month after reactor shutdown.
Dummy elements (VVER-440 EBO Unit 1) Reactor basket (VVER-440 ANPP) [13]
2,47E+16 Bq 1.43E+15 Bq

CONCLUSIONS

This paper is concerned with the methodology of radioactive inventory calculation

using MCNPX transport code. It was applied on the VVER-440/V-230 reactor in Jaslovské
Bohunice Unit 1 NPP. Calculation results are compared to the calculations made for the
Armenian NPP. The data from the first eight campaigns was processed, after dummy elements
were installed (reduction of the active zone and change of the loading pattern). The results
confirm, that the most important radionuclides in the reactor components dismantling process
are 55Fe (1st decade), 60Co (10 - 50y) and 63Ni (during the whole process). However, it is
necessary to include the rest of the documentation from the reactor operation in order to
achieve results properly comparable to the calculations performed in the world and also to the
already performed measurements. MCNPX appears to be a powerful tool for the radionuclide
inventory calculation and it will be also employed in further calculations.

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