Validation of ADS reactivity monitoring techniques in the Yalina-Booster subcritical assembly

Abstract

The development of a reactivity monitoring system for subcritical reactors is a major task prior to industrial scale accelerator driven

system (ADS) construction. Within the 6th European Framework Program, the IP-EUROTRANS project has performed a series of

experiments at the Yalina-Booster subcritical assembly located at the Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research (JIPNR) of the

National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, using a continuous (D,T) (fusion) neutron source in pulsed and continuous mode with

short interruptions (beam trips). In this paper, the implementation and results of three different monitoring techniques intended to

operate with continuous neutron sources will be presented, namely the source-jerk technique, the prompt decay constant technique

and the current-to-flux technique. The results will be compared with the values of the reactivity obtained using the pulsed source in

PNS experiments, discussed in detail in another paper.