Utilization of Thai Research Reactor (TRR-1/M1)

S. Chue-inta, N. Klaysuban, C. Tippayakul and A. Konduangkaeo

Descriptions of TRR-1/M1

TRIGA Mark III First Critical July 1977 Max. Power: 2 MW Nominal Operation: 1.2 MW Flux 3x1013 cm-2.sec-1

Coolant water

Descriptions of TRR-1/M1

Fuel Elements 20% TRIGA rod

Control Rods

4 FFCR 1 AFCR B4C

Descriptions of TRR-1/M1

Current Core Configuration: No. 18

107 Fuel elements (4 Fuel Follower Control Rods)

9 In-core irradiation positions (CT, C8, C12, F3, F12, F22, F29, G5 and G33)

CT

A1

9866

C10

10096

E19

8624

G28

TR

C4

8621

F26

8563

G3

9224

B5

10019

D14

8575

F23

9223

B3

10043

D6

8572

F9

9860

B610027

E6

8615

F24

8610

F21

10018

D5

8570

F8

9228TC

B4

10048

D15

10044

E188574

G27

9862

C5

10095

E8

8583

G11

9868

C11

10025

E20

8638

G29

9226

C3

8568

F6

8573

G9IIT

C12

SH2

10247

D16

8559

F25

9221

C2

9227

TC

E7

9219

B1

IIT

C8

SH1

10246

D13

IIT

F22

9863

C6

9861

D7

8566

F10

9220

C1

9865

C9

9615

E21

ND

G30

10020

D3

9614

E5

ND

G8

9864

C7

10049

D12

9613

E17

8637

G26

10023

D8

9612

E9

8605

G12

10046

D4

10026

E22

8564

G6

9859

D2

10022

E4

9222

B2

10041

D11

10093

E1610024

D9

10050

E108604

F11

REG

10245

D10

10092

E158609

F20

10088

E11IIT

F12

SAFE

10097

D1

10045

E238599

F27

10021

E38612

F5

10091

E148639

F19

8594

G24

10089

E128569

F13

8590

G14

10094

E248636

F28IIT

F29

9225

E2

8565

F4IIT

F3

10042

E1IIT

G33

8618

G10

IIT

G5

10090

E138578

F18

8634

G23

8596

F14

8623

G15

8600

F17

8602

F15

8597

G16

8606

F30

8643

G34

8620

F2

8649

G48595

F1

8645

G35

8630

F16

8561

G21

8562

G17

8585

G36

8627

G2

ND

G20

8617

G18

S

G22

S-3

S-1

S-2

8558

F7

8619

G32

9867

D18

10047

D17

Operating Organization

Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT)

Nuclear Technology and Reactor Operation Div.

Reactor Management Section(11 operators)

TINT Policy : Equivalent Social and

Beneficial Utilization of TRR-1/M1

Irradiation Services

Educa

tion a

nd

Tra

inin

g

Experim

ents a

nd

Rese

arch

es

Public Tours

Operation Schedule

Operating power: 1200 kW

Weekly operation schedule: 46 hours / week

Monday : Experiments

Tuesday-Friday: Operation

Annual operation schedule: 10.5 months

Annual maintenance: 1.5 months (Feb-Mar)

Ten In-core facilities

CT 3x1013ncm-2sec-1

C-ring 2x1013ncm-2sec-1

F-ring 1x1013ncm-2sec-1

G-ring 9x1012ncm-2sec-1

Irradiation Service

Isotope Production

Mainly 131I, 5Ci per week ~ half of country’s demand

153Sm, 32P and 177Lu on occasional basis

Aluminium container

TeO2

Irradiated by Reactor

Processed in a hot cell

80gmTeO2(131I)

CT 6wks 2days, 5mg Sm2O3 (153Sm)

C8 6wks

C12 7wks

F3 8wks 2days, 1mg Lu2O3 (177Lu)

F29 9wks

G5 7wks 1wk, 5gm NH4HPO4 (32P)

G33 7wks

Isotope Production

Products and Patients

131I Solution 18Ci 1,150 cases

131I Diagnostic capsule, 90mCi, 93 cases

131I Therapeutic capsule, 126Ci, 3,338 cases

131I MIBG diagnostic dose, 133mCi, 138 cases

131I MIBG therapeutic dose, 560mCi, 4 cases

131I Hippuran, 144mCi, 144 cases

153SmEDTMP, 2.2Ci, 34 cases

32 P 18mCi

Products 147Ci Values 708,982 $ 4,901 patients

99mTc Products

Total import 26Ci (generator 500mCi/week)

Products from Labs: MAA, MAG3, MDP, DISIDA, DMSA, DTPA, Phytate, Stannous, EC, MIBI, Hynic-TOC

Products 147 units Values 69,333 $

For 20,252 Patients

Incomes from isotope products

TRR-1/M1 originated = 354,491 US$

Generator originated = 423,824 US$

Isotope production income (US$)

354491, 46%

423824, 54%

reactor imported

Ten Out-core Irradiation Facilities

Column 1x109ncm-2sec-1

Beams 1x106ncm-2sec-1

Tubes 1x1011ncm-2sec-1

LS 2x1011ncm-2sec-1

WT 8x1011ncm-2sec-1

8. Activity < 2nCi/g 7. Satisfied

6. Radiation monitoring

9. Return to customer

1. Topaz

2.Aluminum container

3. wet tube

4. Irradiation 10-20 wks

5. Decay 3-36 wks

Gems Irradiation capacity: 150

kg/year

Cd covered, 1011 ncm-2sec-1

Beryl

[gamma > 200 Mrad]

Diamonds [neutron & heat]

London Blue

[neutron & heat]

Quartz

[gamma]

Sky Blue

[EB & heat]

Super Blue

[neutron, EB & heat] Swiss Blue

[neutron, EB & heat]

บุษราคัม [neutron]

Tourmaline

[gamma]

White Topaz Rough White Topaz Faceted Topaz

[neutron]

Topaz Faceted

[EB no heat]

Topaz

[gamma]

Topaz

[neutron & EB]

Topaz Performs-Sky Blue

[EB & heat]

Topaz Performs

[EB no heat]

Topaz

[neutron & no heat]

Gems In-core Irradiation

In-core irradiation facilities (F12, F22, G5 and G33)

Calculation core reactivity insertion (MVP Code)

Irradiation tests with 300gm gems for 12-72 hrs

Gems Irradiation Products

Gems irradiation(kgs)

neutron, 27.157, 44%

gamma, 34.707, 56%

Reactor 28,826 US$

Gamma 6,653 US$

Total 35,479 US$

Irradiation Service

3. Neutron Activation Analysis

Alloys, minerals, geological, (teeth)

Foods, biological, air pollution

Incomes 3,713$

INAA

Type Elements irradiation decay

short Al, K, Cl, Cu, Mg, Ti, V Min 5m

short Mn, Na 3hr

Med As, Br, K, La, Na, Sb, Sm Min-day 3days

Long Ce, Co, Cr, Fe, Sb, Sc, Se, Th, Zn 2wks

Number of NAA samples

560

112 133

20 411

77 55

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

G22 A1 CA2 CA3 A4 TA LS WTFacility

INAA income 3,713$

Rough Estimations

Incomes (IP+GEMS+NAA)=452,650$

Operation (Fuel + budget)=2,121,212$

Incomes/Operation costs = 21.33 %

Scattering

PGNAA

Radiography

Research

Large sample INAA

DEVELOPMENT OF A PROFILE DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR NEUTRON

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY FOR THE THAI RESEARCH REACTOR TRR-1/M1

1, S.Chueinta2Pattarasumunt , A. 2, S.Srisatit*1K.Sukrod 1Department of Nuclear Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

2Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

ABSTRACT The neutron computed tomography using Thai research reactor TRR-1/M1 was developed in this research. The system was divided into two parts. The first one is the rotate-translate

system and the second is the data acquisition program. The collected profiles data was 1 mm/step of translation and 7.2 degree/step angle of rotation .The neutron beam from Thai research

reactor TRR-1/M1 which is operated at 1200 kilowatts. The neutron CT images were found to be satisfactory.

EXPERIMENTAL & RESULTS Neutron Computed Tomography System.

INTRODUCTION The objective of this research is to develop the neutron computed tomography system for TRR-1/M1. The neutron computed tomography is one of the widely used Non-Destructive

Testing (NDT) methods. The principle of this technique is to measure the intensity of neutrons attenuated by different materials in the object. Two dimensional images of the object are

derived from the measurement. By rotating the object in small increment, several 2D images of the object are taken at different angles and they are finally combined to construct a cross

sectional view by computed tomography methodology.

Average PSL readout from NIP VS exposure time at different disrances form the neutron beam exit

Equipment installation

Neutron image processing

CONCLUSIONS Through this study of neutron computed tomography using thermal neutron beam from TRR-1/1M, the obtained image could be identified the difference kind of materials such as PE,

Steel and Brass by the CT-number.

CT image was reconstructed from the projection data, because of the neutron scattering reduces the contrast of CT image. So, the scattering neutron correction should be considered.

Detail of objects

1.PVC cover diameter 12 cm.

thickness 0.8 cm

2.Steel diameter 2 cm

3.PE diameter 2 cm

4.Brass diameter 2 cm Detail of scan

1.Profiles : 26

2.Ray sums : 140

3.Time : 3 Sec.

Data Acquisition and

Data Processing

Table control Projection Data CT Image

PE Brass

Steel

Neutron

y = 45.528x - 8.4972R

2 = 0.9931

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70Expos ure time in s econds

Aver

age

PSL/

mm

2SENSITIVITY OF NEUTRON IMAGING PLATE

TO NEUTRONS AND GAMMA-RAYS R. Fungklin1, N. Chankow1 , S. ChongKum2

1Department of Nuclear Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

2Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to investigate the sensitivity of a Fuji BAS-ND 2040 neutron imaging plate to neutrons and gamma-rays for non-destructive testing of

some ancient specimens. For sensitivity to neutrons, the imaging plate was exposed to neutrons from a neutron beam of the Thai Research Reactor TRR1/M1 operating at

1.2 MW having a neutron flux of 1.26 x 106 n/cm2-s and a cadmium ratio of approximately 250. It was found that the photostimulated luminescence (PSL) output increased

linearly with increasing of the exposure time and the sensitivity to neutrons was approximately 1 PSL per 280 neutrons. For sensitivity to gamma-rays, it was exposed to

661.6 keV gamma-rays from 10 mCi Cs-137 source. The sensitivity was found to be approximately 1 PSL per 4.8 x 103 gamma-ray photons. The sensitivity of the imaging

plate to neutrons was, therefore, about 17 times faster than to the gamma-rays which was very high comparing to the conventional film technique. Finally, the imaging plate

was employed to record neutron and x-ray radiographic images of some ancient specimens. The image quality was comparable to those obtained from the conventional film

technique with significantly reduction of the exposure time.

INTRODUCTION Neutron Radiography is one of non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. Currently imaging plates have been used in place of or along with traditional X-ray or photographic

films. X-ray film imaging usually takes a long time to process before the image is obtained. The imaging plates, on the other hand, are more sensitive to radiation and

therefore will take much shorter time to process. In this study we used an imaging plate reader which uses laser beams to interact with imaging plates. The output came out

as computer-readable data, which is convenient to be analyzed. In this study we investigated the sensitivity of the imaging plates to neutron and gamma radiation in order to

use the plates in studying some ancient specimens in the future.

1. Linearity and Sensitivity test

CONCLUSIONS (left : Ancient specimen; middle : NR using NIP; right : x-ray radiography using x-ray IP)

Neutron Imaging Plate is more sensitive to neutron radiation than to gamma rays or x-rays.

Neutron Imaging Plate ’s speed is about 40 times faster than the conventional film technique.

This can be applied to neutron radiography using Neutron Imaging Plate for inspection ancient objects.

EXPERIMENTAL & RESULTS

Average PSL readout from NIP VS exposure time

2. Neutron and x-ray images of some specimens

For slow neutrons with Cd ratio of ~ 250 :

NIP requires ~ 280 n/cm2 to obtain 1 PSL/mm2 read out i.e. having a

sensitivity of ~ 3.6 x 10-3 PSL/mm2 per neutron

For gamma-rays from Cs-137 (661.6 keV) :

NIP requires ~4.8 x 103 /cm2 to obtain 1 PSL/mm2 read out i.e.

having a sensitivity of ~ 2.08 x 10-4 PSL/mm2 per gamma-ray photon

Gamma ray (661.6 keV)

y = 2.4413x - 6.3057

R2 = 0.9733

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Exposure time in minutes

Ave

rage

PSL

/mm

2

Education and Training

Cooperation Criticality Thermal Hydraulics Neutronics Operation

Maintenance

Safety culture

Radiation protection

Inspection

Quality Assurant

Utilization

Number of visitors in 2009

579 586

177

51

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

students public trainee other

Public Tours

Conclusions

TINT has equivalent policy towards social and beneficial utilization of TRR-1/M1

Estimated incomes/operation cost 21.33% Will try to improve….KM, training, Cooperation, etc.

Thank you for kind attention