Estimation of Na-24 Activity Concentration in BAEC TRIGA Research Reactor

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) TRIGA Research Reactor is a unique nuclear installation of the country generally implemented for a wide variety of research applications and serves as an excellent source of neutron. During reactor operation it is necessary to measure and control the activity concentration of the pool water for fuel element failure detection and for the determination of contamination. The present study deals with the estimation of activity concentration for Na-24 present in water coolant produced as a result of Na-23 (n, gamma) Na-24 reaction. Several governing equations have been employed to estimate the Na-24 activity concentrations theoretically at different reactor power levels including maximum reactor power of 2.4 MW. From the obtained result it is ensured that the estimated Na-24 activity of 8.83 x 10(-3) mu Ci/cm(3) is not significant enough for any radiological hazard. Thus for ensuring radiological safety issues of the research reactor the assessment performed under the present study has an implication. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.