The application of the Automated Variance Reduction Generator (ADVANTG) code to accelerate MCNP neutron transport calculations in fusion-relevant geometries is presented. The ADVANTG code generates variance-reduction parameters using the Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (CADIS) and Forward-Weighted Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (FW-CADIS) methods based on deterministic transport calculations performed by the discrete ordinates code Denovo. The aim of ADVANTG is to reduce the MCNP computational time by automating the process of variance-reduction parameter generation. ADVANTG was tested on a simplified model of a JET-like tokamak that in spite of its simplicity retains all the major characteristics of such a tokamak. The performance of the nuclear data libraries provided with ADVANTG and of various other ADVANTG/Denovo settings on variance-reduction efficiency was tested. Several cases using deuterium-deuterium or deuterium-tritium (D-T) volumetric (plasma) sources and 252Cf or D-T point neutron sources were analyzed to find guidelines for successful use of the code for fusion applications. Additionally, the use of ADVANTG as a tool to identify major neutron pathways from the neutron source to the detector is demonstrated.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30333735
At the Joint European Torus (JET) the ex-vessel fission chambers and in-vessel activation detectors are used as the neutron production rate and neutron yield monitors respectively. In order to ensure that these detectors produce accurate measurements they need to be experimentally calibrated. A new calibration of neutron detectors to 14 MeV neutrons, resulting from deuterium%tritium (DT) plasmas, is planned at JET using a compact accelerator based neutron generator (NG) in which a D/T beam impinges on a solid target containing T/D, producing neutrons by DT fusion reactions. This paper presents the analysis that was performed to model the neutron source characteristics in terms of energy spectrum, angle%energy distribution and the effect of the neutron generator geometry. Different codes capable of simulating the accelerator based DT neutron sources are compared and sensitivities to uncertainties in the generator's internal structure analysed. The analysis was performed to support preparation to the experimental measurements performed to characterize the NG as a calibration source. Further extensive neutronics analyses, performed with this model of the NG, will be needed to support the neutron calibration experiments and take into account various differences between the calibration experiment and experiments using the plasma as a source of neutrons
COBISS.SI-ID: 30206247
The present paper describes the findings of the calibration of the neutron yield monitors on the Joint European Torus (JET) performed in 2013 using a 252Cf source deployed inside the torus by the remote handling system, with particular regard to the calibration of fission chambers which provide the time resolved neutron yield from JET plasmas. The experimental data obtained in toroidal, radial, and vertical scans are presented. These data are first analysed following an analytical approach adopted in the previous neutron calibrations at JET. In this way, a calibration function for the volumetric plasma source is derived which allows us to understand the importance of the different plasma regions and of different spatial profiles of neutron emissivity on fission chamber response. Neutronics analyses have also been performed to calculate the correction factors needed to derive the plasma calibration factors taking into account the different energy spectrum and angular emission distribution of the calibrating (point) 252Cf source, the discrete positions compared to the plasma volumetric source, and the calibration circumstances. All correction factors are presented and discussed. We discuss also the lessons learnt which are the basis for the on-going 14 MeV neutron calibration at JET and for ITER.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30915367
The power output of fusion devices is measured in terms of the neutron yield which relates directly to the fusion yield. JET made a transition from Carbon wall to ITER-Like Wall (Beryllium/Tungsten/Carbon) during 2010–11. Absolutely calibrated measurement of the neutron yield by JET neutron monitors was ensured by direct measurements using a calibrated 252Cf neutron source (NS) deployed by the in-vessel remote handling system (RHS) inside the JET vacuum vessel. Neutronic calculations were required in order to understand the neutron transport from the source in the vacuum vessel to the fission chamber detectors mounted outside the vessel on the transformer limbs of the tokamak. We developed a simplified computational model of JET and the JET RHS in Monte Carlo neutron transport code MCNP and analyzed the paths and structures through which neutrons reach the detectors and the effect of the JET RHS on the neutron monitor response. In addition we performed several sensitivity studies of the effect of substantial massive structures blocking the ports on the external neutron monitor response. As the simplified model provided a qualitative picture of the process only, some calculations were repeated using a more detailed full 3D model of the JET tokamak.
COBISS.SI-ID: 29365799
The measured D-D neutron rate of neutral beam heated JET baseline and hybrid H-modes in deuterium is found to be between approximately 50% and 100% of the neutron rate expected from the TRANSP code, depending on the plasma parameters. A number of candidate explanations for the shortfall, such as fuel dilution, errors in beam penetration and effectively available beam power have been excluded. As the neutron rate in JET is dominated by beamplasma interactions, the ` neutron deficit' may be caused by a yet unidentified form of fast particle redistribution. Modelling, which assumes fast particle transport to be responsible for the deficit, indicates that such redistribution would have to happen at time scales faster than both the slowing down time and the energy confinement time. Sawteeth and edge localised modes are found to make no significant contribution to the deficit. There is also no obvious correlation with magnetohydrodynamic activity measured using magnetic probes at the tokamak vessel walls. Modelling of fast particle orbits in the 3D fields of neoclassical tearing modes shows that realistically sized islands can only contribute a few percent to the deficit. In view of these results it appears unlikely that the neutron deficit results from a single physical process in the plasma.
COBISS.SI-ID: 31155239