The Serpent Monte Carlo reactor physics burnup calculation code has been developed at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland since 2004, and is currently used in over 100 universities and research organizations around the world. This paper presents the brief history of the project, together with the currently available methods and capabilities and plans for future work. Typical user applications are introduced in the form of a summary review on Serpent-related publications over the past few years.

The Serpent Monte Carlo code: Status, development and applications in 2013

An explanation for the energetic ions observed in the PetaWatt experiments is presented. In solid target experiments with focused intensities exceeding 1020 W/cm2, high-energy electron generation, hard bremsstrahlung, and energetic protons have been observed on the backside of the target. In this report, an attempt is made to explain the physical process present that will explain the presence of these energetic protons, as well as explain the number, energy, and angular spread of the protons observed in experiment. In particular, we hypothesize that hot electrons produced on the front of the target are sent through to the back off the target, where they ionize the hydrogen layer there. These ions are then accelerated by the hot electron cloud, to tens of MeV energies in distances of order tens of μm, whereupon they end up being detected in the radiographic and spectrographic detectors.

Energetic Proton Generation in Ultra-Intense Laser-solid Interactions

An extensive investigation on gamma ray shielding features of Pd/Ag-based alloys

Natural sepiolite mineral is a naturally occurring clay form belonging to a part of layered silicate. Because of its advantages such as low production cost, light-weight and convenient, it may be selected as an alternative shielding material to others. Radiation shielding performances of some concretes to sepiolite and B4C addictive have been researched reported in a wide energy region of 0.08–1.333 MeV using experimental data, MCNP and XCOM. The simulated data obtained by MCNPX are discussed and compared with the experimental results as well as with the XCOM results. The simulations match the experiments very well except for S3 sample. From the measurement, the maximum gamma-ray attenuation was detected in the concrete specimen with 10% sepiolite (S1) while the minimum attenuation of gamma-ray was noted in the concrete specimen with 30% sepiolite (S3). The addition of sepiolite mineral to concretes may be an alternative option that can be used in several radiation protection applications.

Shielding features of concrete types containing sepiolite mineral: Comprehensive study on experimental, XCOM and MCNPX results

Environmentally persistent free radicals mediated removal of Cr(VI) from highly saline water by corn straw biochars.

Perlite mineral contains relatively high water and in general hydrated obsidian forms the perlite which is mainly an amorphous volcanic glass. Photon attenuation properties for different concrete types including natural perlite mineral and B4C have been experimentally investigated by using different radioactive point sources at 81, 276, 303, 356, 384, 662, 1173, 1275 and 1333 keV. SEM and EDAX analyses were carried out to control the crystal structure of the selected concrete types. In this work, HPGe detector based on gamma spectrometer was employed for all experiments. The results revealed that among the prepared concrete samples, the P6 concrete sample has the lowest HVL and MFP values and thus, having best ability to attenuate gamma rays in comparison to the other prepared concretes.

Experimental investigation of photon attenuation behaviors for concretes including natural perlite mineral

Calculations of neutron-induced production cross-sections of 180,182,183,184,186W up to 20MeV

Three-dimensional analysis has been made using the MCNP Monte Carlo code and ENDF/B-VI nuclear data. The nuclear characteristics of a fusion-fission hybrid reactor such as tritium breeding ratio, energy multiplication factor, fissile fuel breeding, first wall radiation damage, and heat deposition have been investigated in a liquid first wall, blanket, and shield for the various mixture compositions of molten salt and heavy metals for blanket layer thicknesses of 20, 30, 40, and 50 cm. The neutron flux load at the first wall is assumed to be 10 MW/ m 2 . The flowing molten salt wall is composed of flibe (Li 2 BeF 4 ) as the main constituent with increased mole fractions of heavy metals, 2 to 10% ThF 4 and UF 4 . In terms of all parameters, the mixtures with UF 4 show better performance than the mixtures with ThF 4 . The atomic displacement and the helium, tritium production rates remain well below the presumable limits for all mixture compositions of molten salt and heavy metals and thicknesses of the blanket.

Three-Dimensional Neutronic Calculations for the Fusion Breeder APEX Reactor

Natural activity concentrations in water sources are necessary to assess the effects of exposure to environmental radiation. The purpose of this study is to determine the activity concentrations of gross α and β in various water samples collected from 30 different locations in Karaman province, Turkey. The estimated values of activities of gross α and β obtained from water samples vary from 0.006 to 0.125 Bq L−1and from 0.001 to 0.667 Bq L−1, respectively. The gross β activities have been found always higher than the corresponding gross α activities for all samples. The obtained values indicated that concentration levels of α and β emitting radionuclides in samples have not exceeded WHO recommendations. The results represented here that the AED values are below of recommended reference level (0.1 mSv year−1) by the WHO for all water samples in this study.

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Gross α and β activity concentrations in various water from Karaman, Turkey.

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Mehmet Emin Korkmaz

Papers

Experimental investigation of photon attenuation behaviors for concretes including natural perlite mineral

Calculations of neutron-induced production cross-sections of 180,182,183,184,186W up to 20MeV

Three-Dimensional Neutronic Calculations for the Fusion Breeder APEX Reactor

Gross α and β activity concentrations in various water from Karaman, Turkey.

Excitation Functions of Neutron Induced Nuclear Reactions for 59Co Nucleus using Different Level Density Models