Fast high-energy X-ray imaging for Severe Accidents experiments on the future PLINIUS-2 platform

Fast high-energy X-ray imaging for Severe Accidents experiments on the future PLINIUS-2 platform

The future PLINIUS-2 platform of CEA Cadarache will be dedicated to the study of corium interactions in severe nuclear accidents, and will host innovative large-scale experiments. The Nuclear Measurement Laboratory of CEA Cadarache is in charge of real-time high-energy X-ray imaging set-ups, for the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:EPJ Web of conferences Vol. 170; p. 8003
Main Authors: Berge, L., Estre, N., Tisseur, D., Payan, E., Eck, D., Bouyer, V., Cassiaut-Louis, N., Journeau, C., Tellier, R.Le, Pluyette, E.
Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Published: Les Ulis EDP Sciences 01-01-2018
Subjects:
Bremsstrahlung
Cameras
CMOS
Computer simulation
Corium
Dosage
Flux
Imaging
MODHERATO
Nuclear accidents
Photonics
PLINIUS-2
Screens
Severe Accidents
Stratification
Transportation services
Tungsten
X-ray imaging
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Summary:The future PLINIUS-2 platform of CEA Cadarache will be dedicated to the study of corium interactions in severe nuclear accidents, and will host innovative large-scale experiments. The Nuclear Measurement Laboratory of CEA Cadarache is in charge of real-time high-energy X-ray imaging set-ups, for the study of the corium-water and corium-sodium interaction, and of the corium stratification process. Imaging such large and high-density objects requires a 15 MeV linear electron accelerator coupled to a tungsten target creating a high-energy Bremsstrahlung X-ray flux, with corresponding dose rate about 100 Gy/min at 1 m. The signal is detected by phosphor screens coupled to high-framerate scientific CMOS cameras. The imaging set-up is established using an experimentally-validated home-made simulation software (MODHERATO). The code computes quantitative radiographic signals from the description of the source, object geometry and composition, detector, and geometrical configuration (magnification factor, etc.). It accounts for several noise sources (photonic and electronic noises, swank and readout noise), and for image blur due to the source spot-size and to the detector unsharpness. In a view to PLINIUS-2, the simulation has been improved to account for the scattered flux, which is expected to be significant. The paper presents the scattered flux calculation using the MCNP transport code, and its integration into the MODHERATO simulation. Then the validation of the improved simulation is presented, through confrontation to real measurement images taken on a small-scale equivalent set-up on the PLINIUS platform. Excellent agreement is achieved. This improved simulation is therefore being used to design the PLINIUS-2 imaging set-ups (source, detectors, cameras, etc.).
ISSN:2100-014X
2101-6275
2100-014X
DOI:10.1051/epjconf/201817008003