Analysis of Induced Radioactivity in Pebbles Caused by High Energy Neutrons

The China initiative Accelerator Driven System (CiADS) is the first integrated ADS facility designed to study the safety disposal of nuclear waste. As a nuclear facility, it will cause radiological impact on the environment. Therefore, the assessment of radiological impact on the environment around this facility will not only meaningful to the public health, but also offers significant guides to the shielding design of CiADS. Pebble samplings were collected around the campus of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) and irradiated by a ²⁴¹Am-Be neutron source. Based on the γ-spectrum measured by a HPGe detector before and after the neutron irradiation, the specific activities of induced radionuclides ²⁴Na,⁵⁴Mn,⁵⁶Mn and ²⁷Mg in these samples were analyzed and compared with the Monte-Carlo simulation values obtained with the Geant4 toolkit. The comparison between the experimental and simulated results indicates that Geant4 toolkit is feasible for radiation impact assessment of nuclear facilities, such as CiADS. Then the neutron spectrum outside the concrete shielding of HEBT tunnel of the CiADS have been simulated by the Geant4 toolkit, and the saturation activities of the induced nuclides in the first 10 cm pebble layer have been predicted. The results show that the saturation activities of induced radionuclides in pebbles outside the CiADS shielding are much lower than their exemption values and their radiation impacts to the environment could be ignored.