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Report No.
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Feasibility of using BeO rods as secondary neutron sources in the long-life fuel cycle high-temperature gas-cooled reactor

Ho, H. Q.   ; Ishii, Toshiaki ; Nagasumi, Satoru; Ono, Masato ; Shimazaki, Yosuke ; Ishitsuka, Etsuo   ; Sawahata, Hiroaki ; Goto, Minoru  ; Simanullang, I. L.* ; Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Iigaki, Kazuhiko 

External sources of neutron provide stable and sufficient neutron for initial startup of a nuclear reactor. They also provide signals for neutron detectors to monitor the safety of reactor during shutdown. In the high temperature engineering test reactor, $$^{252}$$Cf is used as the external neutron source. However, the $$^{252}$$Cf sources must be renewed every approximately 7 years because of its relatively short half-life of 2.6 years. The renewal of $$^{252}$$Cf sources requires a high cost and a very complicated procedure. This study investigated the feasibility of using BeO rods as the secondary neutron sources to avoid renewing the $$^{252}$$Cf neutron sources periodically. The BeO rods could exist in the reactor for a long time so that if the reactor operates long enough, the neutron flux at the wide-range monitoring detectors remains significant even if the reactor is shutdown for as long as 5 years. The results of this study indicated that using BeO rods as the secondary neutron sources would be an attractive option for the future HTGR design with a long-life fuel cycle.

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