Overview of JET results for optimising ITER operation

The JET 2019-2020 scientific and technological programme exploited the results of years of concerted scientific and engineering work, including the ITER-like wall (ILW: Be wall and W divertor) installed in 2010, improved diagnostic capabilities now fully available, a major Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) upgrade providing record power in 2019-2020, and tested the technical & procedural preparation for safe operation with tritium. Research along three complementary axes yielded a wealth of new results. Firstly, the JET plasma programme delivered scenarios suitable for high fusion power and alpha particle physics in the coming D-T campaign (DTE2), with record sustained neutron rates, as well as plasmas for clarifying the impact of isotope mass on plasma core, edge and plasma-wall interactions, and for ITER pre-fusion power operation. The efficacy of the newly installed Shattered Pellet Injector for mitigating disruption forces and runaway electrons was demonstrated. Secondly, research on the consequences of long-term exposure to JET-ILW plasma was completed, with emphasis on wall damage and fuel retention, and with analyses of wall materials and dust particles that will help validate assumptions and codes for design & operation of ITER and DEMO. Thirdly, the nuclear technology programme aiming to deliver maximum technological return from operations in D, T and D-T benefited from the highest D-D neutron yield in years, securing results for validating radiation transport and activation codes, and nuclear data for ITER.

Assessment of secondary neutrons in particle therapy by Monte Carlo simulations

Objective: The purpose of this study is to estimate the energy and angular distribution of secondary neutrons inside a phantom in hadron therapy, which will support decisions on detector choice and experimental setup design for in-phantom secondary neutron measurements. Approach: Dedicated Monte Carlo simulations were implemented, considering clinically relevant energies of protons, helium and carbon ions. Since scored quantities can vary from different radiation transport models, the codes FLUKA, TOPAS and MCNP were used. The geometry of an active scanning beam delivery system for heavy ion treatment was implemented, and simulations of pristine and spread-out Bragg peaks were carried out. Previous studies, focused on specific ion types or single energies, are qualitatively in agreement with the obtained results. Main results: The secondary neutrons energy distributions present a continuous spectrum with two peaks, one centred on the thermal/epithermal region, and one on the high-energy region, with the most probable energy ranging from 19 MeV up to 240 MeV, depending on the ion type and its initial energy. The simulations show that the secondary neutron energies may exceed 400 MeV and, therefore, suitable neutron detectors for this energy range shall be needed. Additionally, the angular distribution of the low energy neutrons is quite isotropic, whereas the fast/relativistic neutrons are mainly scattered in the down-stream direction. Significance: It would be possible to minimize the influence of the heavy ions when measuring the neutron-generated recoil protons by selecting appropriate measurement positions within the phantom. Although there are discrepancies among the three Monte Carlo codes, the results agree qualitatively and in order of magnitude, being sufficient to support further investigations with the ultimate goal of mapping the secondary neutron doses both in- and out-of-field in hadrontherapy. The obtained secondary neutron spectra are available as supplementary material.

High performance simulations of a single X-pinch

The dynamics of plasmas produced by low current X-pinch devices are explored. This comprehensive computational study is the first step in the preparation of an experimental campaign aiming to understand the formation of plasma jets in table-top pulsed power X-pinch devices. Two state-of-the-art Magneto-Hydro-Dynamic codes, GORGON and PLUTO, are used to simulate the evolution of the plasma and describe its key dynamic features. GORGON and PLUTO are built on different approximation schemes and the simulation results obtained are discussed and analyzed in relation to the physics adopted by each code. Both codes manage to accurately handle the numerical demands of the X-pinch plasma evolution and provide precise details on the mechanisms of the plasma expansion, the jet-formation, and the pinch generation. Furthermore, the influence of electrical resistivity, radiation transport and optically thin losses on the dynamic behaviour of the simulated X-pinch produced plasma is studied in PLUTO. Our findings highlight the capabilities of the GORGON and PLUTO codes in simulating the wide range of plasma conditions found in X-pinch experiments, enabling for the direct comparison to the scheduled experiments.

Automatic Classification Method of Quaternary Lithology in Vegetation Cover Area Combining Spectral, Textural, Topographic, Geothermal, and Vegetation Features

To explore the automatic classification method of Quaternary lithology in vegetation covered areas is significantly helpful to improve the efficiency of Quaternary lithology mapping. Due to the vegetation cover and human modification effects, the traditional lithology identification methods based on image spectra and textures are often challenging to be effective. This paper uses multi-source remote sensing data such as OLI, TIRS, and ASTER GDEM to extract multiple types of spectral (SPEC), textural (TEX), topographic (TOPO), geothermal (TEM), and vegetation (VEG) based on principal component transform, gray co-occurrence matrix, topographic factor calculation, thermal radiation transport model and vegetation index in the Quaternary distribution area of Viet Chi, Vietnam. Remote sensing features were selected and combined to form 16 kinds of classification datasets. The lithological units was automatically classified using the random forest method, The method’s accuracy was evaluated to study the effectiveness of multi-type remote sensing features on the automatic classification of Quaternary lithology in vegetation cover area. The results show that the geothermal, textural, and topographic features can effectively improve the lithological classification accuracy, and the overall classification accuracy is improved by 0.32%, 0.87%, and 2.25%, respectively, compared with the use of spectral data alone. Among the 16 classification datasets constructed, the dataset combining spectral, textural, topographic, and geothermal features (SPEC+ TEX+ TOPO+ TEM) obtained the highest automatic lithology classification accuracy of 80.99%. This study can provide a technical idea for rapid differentiation of regional Quaternary surface sediment lithologies.

Radiological characterization of a German pressurized water reactor based on a highly resolved method for activity analysis and dose rate calculation

The amendment to the atomic act in 2011 results to phase out nuclear energy in Germany until the end of 2022. Subsequently, the licensee of the nuclear power plant is responsible for decommissioning and dismantling. During operation, activation of structures near the core of the reactor occur which govern the amount of radioactive waste, the dose rate distribution and dismantling strategies. Thus, a detailed radiological characterization of in-core and out-core structures is required to optimize decommissioning processes regarding the quantification and minimization of radioactive waste, radiation protection and reducing radiation exposure. These objectives are achieved using an innovative and efficient method developed and applied at the Chair of Repository Safety (Lehrstuhl für Endlagersicherheit, ELS) RWTH Aachen University. Within the framework of the joint project „Development of a methodology for activity analysis and dose rate estimation“, funded by the Federal ministry of Education and Research, approaches the objective to develop a standardized and highly resolved method to calculate time-dependent activity of components and structures near the reactor core based on operating history of the nuclear power plant and neutron fluence distribution. The approach requires the development of a detailed model for Monte-Carlo simulations which provides the basis to neutron fluence, neutron spectra and radiation transport simulations. To calculate the nuclide specific 3-Dimensional (3D) activity distribution of the entire facility, a facility-dependent activation cross section library is produced which focuses on recent nuclear databases (ENDF/B-VIII.0). A highly resolved and space-dependent 3D activity distribution of the entire facility is obtained using a modular program package, developed at ELS, including the activation code ORIGEN2. The results are produced in the form of detailed 3D activity maps. The source terms are generated on the basis of the space-dependent 3D activity distribution using an additional module of the program package. The combination of recent nuclear databases focusing on ENDF/B-VII.1 and complemented by JEFF-3.3 ensures a comprehensive characterisation of source terms. Subsequently, source terms are prepared for 3D radiation transport simulation using the Monte-Carlo method and the computer code MCNP. The simulations are conducted separately for each individual component obtaining the partial contribution of all in-core and out-core structures as well as the dose rate distribution of the entire facility. Similar to the activity calculation, the simulation results are used to generate 3D gamma flux and dose rate maps using the graphic module of the whole program system. On the basis of the radiological characterisation and in view of a high-level radiation protection these maps allow the optimum planning and realisation of the decommissioning and dismantling process of the nuclear power plant.

Influence of radiation transport on discharge characteristics of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet in Argon

In the current work the method of radiation trapping treatment infinite coaxial cylinders using spherical coordinates is introduced. The operator of resonant transition process is obtained explicitly in the matrix form and its response to delta-function is analyzed in both hollow and solid cylinders. The influence of radiation trapping effect is shown on the example of model of miniaturized non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma jet. The results of the calculations with the developed matrix method are compared to those based on the effective probability approximation. It is shown that the use of matrix method leads to significant spatial redistribution of the excited plasma species due to the non-local effects of radiation transport mechanism.

Mathematical modelling of optical radiation transport in biological tissues under the conditions of moveable integrating spheres registration

To describe the propagation of radiation in biological tissue, it is crucial to know the tissue’s optical characteristics. Integrating spheres method is widely used for experimental determination of optical properties of biological tissues. In this method, radiation scattered by the test sample in forward and backward directions is detected by the integrating spheres, along with the radiation that passed through the sample without scattering. In order to increase information content of the measurements, a moveable integrating spheres method was proposed, allowing one to register scattered radiation at different distances from sample surface to sphere ports. In this work, using the multilayer Monte Carlo method a numerical simulation of radiation propagation in a turbid medium was carried out under the conditions of detecting scattered radiation by moveable and stationary integrating spheres. Random errors were added to the direct problem solution in order to simulate experimental inaccuracies. The corresponding inverse problems were solved and the errors arising in the determination of optical properties (albedo, scattering anisotropy, optical depth) were compared in the cases of moveable and fixed spheres. It is shown that the same error in the inverse problem input data leads to smaller root-mean-square deviation from the true values when reconstructing albedo and anisotropy with the moveable spheres method, compared to the classical stationary spheres approach.