Contents

Neutronics feasibility of using Gd2O3 particles in VVER-1000 fuel assembly

Hoang Van Khanh, Hoang Thanh Phi Hung, Tran Hoai Nam………………………………01

Design and Construction of a Preamplifier for Research Reactor Control System Using
Russia’s Neutron Detectors
Trinh Dinh Hai, Vo Van Tai, Le Van Diep, Nguyen Nhi Dien..………………………………08

Development of an MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling scheme for burnup calculation of VVER-

1000 fuel assemblies
Nguyen Huy Hiep, Nguyen Huu Tiep, Tran Viet Phu, Nguyen Tuan Khai………………..…16

Research and design of the moving system for the cobalt-60 industrial irradiator
Le Minh Tuan, Tran Khac An, Cao Van Chung, Phan Phuoc Thang……………………...…31

UV light induced DNA damages and the radiation protection effects of Lingzi mushrom extract
Vo Thi Thuong Lan, Dinh Ba Tuan, Ta Bich Thuan, Tran Bang Diep, Tran Minh Quynh…...40

The effect of gamma-irradiation on graphene oxide in a monoglyceride/ethanol solution

Luu Anh Tuyen, Ha Thuc Huy, Nguyen Thanh Duoc, Doan Binh, Pham Thi Thu Hong...…48

The Brandon mathematical model describing the effect of calcination and reduction
parameters on specific surface area of ex-ADU UO2 powders
Nguyen Trong Hung, Le Ba Thuan, et.al. ..………………………………………………………54

The efficient neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination with small active volume
scintillation detector
Phan Van Chuan, Nguyen Duc Hoa, Nguyen Xuan Hai, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Tuong Thi Thu
Huong, Nguyen Nhi Dien, Pham Dinh Khang…………...………………………………………60
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 01-07

Neutronics feasibility of using Gd2O3 particles

in VVER-1000 fuel assembly
Hoang Van Khanh1, Hoang Thanh Phi Hung2 and Tran Hoai Nam3,*
1)
Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology, VINATOM, 179 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam
2)
Nuclear Training Center, VINATOM, 140 Nguyen Tuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
3)
Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam
*E-mail: tranhoainamk3@gmail.com
(Received 07 June 2016, accepted 28 August 2016)

Abstract. Neutronics feasibility of using Gd2O3 particles for controlling excess reactivity of VVER-
1000 fuel assembly has been investigated. The motivation is that the use of Gd 2O3 particles would
increase the thermal conductivity of the UO2+Gd2O3 fuel pellet which is one of the desirable
characteristics for designing future high burnup fuel. The calculation results show that the Gd 2O3
particles with the diameter of 60 µm could control the reactivity similarly to that of homogeneous
mixture with the same amount of Gd2O3. The power densities at the fuel pin with Gd2O3 particles
increase by about 10-11%, leading to the decrease of the power peak and a slightly flatter power
distribution. The power peak appears at the periphery pins at the beginning of burnup process which is
decreased by 0.9 % when using Gd2O3 particles. Further work and improvement are being planned to
optimize the high power peaking at the beginning of burnup.
Keywords: Fuel assembly, Gd2O3 particle, power distribution, and VVER.

I. INTRODUCTION Gd2O3 particles in the UO2 matrix could be a

In LWRs, Gd2O3 is loaded in several fuel
assemblies as burnable poison for controlling
excess reactivity of the fresh fuel and the
reactor core at the beginning of burnup stage.
The purpose is to avoid an excessively high
power peak at some fresh fuel assemblies. After
a burnup level of about 10-15 GWd/t, main
absorbing isotopes, Gd155 and Gd157, which are
about 30% in the natural gadolinium, are
depleted completely and the reactivity
decreases with burnup similarly to other
assemblies without Gd2O3. In conventional
design, an amount of Gd2O3 within a few
percent is mixed homogeneously with UO2 in
several fuel pins of a fuel assembly. Since
Gd2O3 has a smaller thermal conductivity than
that of UO2, its content leads to the decrease of
the thermal conductivity of the fuel pellet [1]-
[3]. In order to avoid the problem, the use of
solution. It was reported that the thermal
conductivity of Gd2O3-dispersed UO2 is larger
than that of (U,Gd)O2 solid solutions with the
same Gd2O3 content [3].
Iwasaki et al. [4] conducted experiments
to investigate the effect of Gd2O3 dispersion
on the thermal conductivity. The results
showed that 10 wt% Gd2O3-dispersed UO2
pellet with the diameter of Gd 2O3 particles of
about 25-53 µm has the thermal conductivity
of about 5.8-2.7 W/mK in the temperature
range from 300 to 1273 K. This is larger than
that of homogeneous mixed solid solutions
(3.8 to 2.6 W/mK) with the same Gd2O3
content [4]. This means that the use of Gd2O3
particles could improve the thermal
conductivity of UO2-Gd2O3 pellets effectively.
For the purpose of the reduction of fuel costs,
power upgrade and advanced fuel design with

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 NEUTRONICS FEASIBILITY OF USING Gd2O3 PARTICLES IN VVER-1000 FUEL ASSEMBLY

high burnup is desirable. Since power upgrade enrichment of 3.7 wt% and 12 UO2+Gd2O3
and high burnup fuel lead to the increase of the fuel pins as shown in Fig. 1. In the numerical
power density, the increase of the thermal calculation model, spherical Gd2O3 particles
conductivity of the fuel pellets would be one are assumed to be distributed randomly in the
of the desirable characteristics of fuel. UO2 matrix of the fuel pellet. The statistical
Regarding the fabrication possibility of the geometry (STG) model of the MVP code
Gd2O3-dispersed UO2 fuel pellet, as mentioned allows simulating the random distribution of
in Ref. [4] it was processed similarly to the the Gd2O3 particles. In the calculations, the
traditional fuel pellet with Gd 2O3 powder. history number of 25 ×106 is chosen to
Gd2O3 particles are weighted and mixed with achieve the relative statistic error of the k∞
UO2 powder in a mortar. The mixture was then within 0.01%. Calculations have been
pressed into a form of fuel pellet and sintered performed for two models of the fuel
under a high pressure and high temperature assembly: one with the homogeneous
condition. distribution of Gd2O3 powder in the UO 2 fuel
pins, and the other with the distribution of
In the present work, we investigated, in
Gd2O3 particles.
neutronics point of view, the feasibility of
using Gd 2O3 particles for reactivity Table I. Design parameters of the VVER-1000 fuel
controlling and the effect on the neutronics assembly [5]
performance of the VVER-1000 fuel
assembly. Spherical Gd2O3 particles were Parameters Values
distributed randomly in the UO 2 matrix of Number of central tube cell (-) 1
fuel pellet. The size of the Gd 2O3 particles
Number of guide tube cell (-) 18
was determined for controlling the reactivity
of the fuel assembly during burnup so that the Number of fuel cell with Gd (-) 12
target is to obtain the k∞ curve similarly to Number of fuel cell (-) 300
that of the conventional fuel assembly.
Fuel cell inner radius (cm) 0.3860
Comparison of the pin-wise power
Fuel cell outter radius (cm) 0.4582
distribution between the new design and the
conventional assembly has also been Central tube cell inner radius (cm) 0.5450
presented. Central tube cell outter radius (cm) 0.6323
Cell pin pitch (cm) 1.2750
II. CALCULATION MODEL
Fuel assembly pitch (cm) 23.6
Numerical calculations have been
Non-fuel zones temperature (K) 575.0
performed based on the low enriched UO 2
fuel assembly of VVER-1000 reactor core Fuel zones temperature (K) 1027.0
using the Monte Carlo neutron transport MVP UO2
code and the JENDLE-3.3 library [6],[7]. The Fuel (wt% 235U) (3.6)
configuration and the detailed design Gd2O3 density (g/cm3) 7.4
parameters of the fuel assembly are displayed
Boron concentration (g/cm3) 0.7235
in Fig.1Fig. 1 and Table . The assembly
consists of 300 UO2 fuel pins with the 235U

2
 HOANG VAN KHANH, HOANG THANH PHI HUNG, TRAN HOAI NAM
Fig. 1. Configuration of fuel assembly
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In the present work, we investigate the
use of Gd2O3 particles instead of homogeneous
distribution for the purpose of reactivity
controlling and improving the thermal
conductivity of the fuel pins. The size of the
Gd2O3 particles is determined so that the k∞ of
the fuel assembly is controlled similarly to that
of the conventional fuel. In the conventional
design, the k∞ of the fuel assembly is
controlled from the beginning of burnup upto
about 10 GWd/t. After this burnup level, most
of the absorbing isotopes are depleted and the
k∞ decreases similar to that of the fuel
assembly without Gd2O3. Thus, in the first
stage of this design, we set the target to obtain
a similar k∞ curve of the new fuel assembly
compared to that of the conventional design.
Previous works used Gd2O3 particles for
controlling the reactivity of a fuel pebble of a
pebble bed reactor upto 60-100 GWd/t.
Therefore, the radius of the particles of 820 or
950 µm was selected [8],[9]. However, in the
current design of the fuel assembly we aim at
controlling the reactivity upto 10 GWd/t, so
that the radius of the particles could be
predicted much smaller than 820 or 950 µm,
and therefore, the self-shielding effect of the
particles is also smaller.
3
In the calculation procedure, we assume
that the same Gd2O3 amount is loaded into the
fuel pins, i.e. 5% of volume, as in the
conventional assembly. Then, a parametric
survey was conducted to optimize the diameter
of the Gd2O3 particles for reactivity control.
shows the effect of the diameter of the Gd2O3
particles on the reactivity curves of the fuel
assembly in the burnup range from 0 to 10
GWd/t with the diameter varying from 40 to 100
µm. Since we aims at finding a reactivity curve
close to the conventional one in this burnup
range, the diameter of 60 µm was selected for
further calculations. Fig. 3 displays the k∞ curve
of the new fuel assembly with the Gd2O3
spherical particles having the diameter of 60 µm
and the packing fraction of 5% (the volume ratio
of the Gd2O3 particles and the matrix base in the
STG model). This k∞ curve is similar to that of
the conventional design with homogeneous
mixed Gd2O3. Other neutronics characteristics
were also computed and compared to that of the
conventional design. Fig. 4 displays the change
of the 155Gd and 157Gd densities as a function of
bunrup in the two designs. It is noted that the
change of the Gd densities is slightly different
between two cases because the particles with the
diameter of 60 µm have small self-shielding
effect and its function is slightly similar to the
homogeneous distribution.
 NEUTRONICS FEASIBILITY OF USING Gd2O3 PARTICLES IN VVER-1000 FUEL ASSEMBLY

Fig. 2. Effect of the diameter of Gd2O3 particles on the Fig. 3. The k∞ as a function of burnup of the VVER-1000
reactivity of the fuel assembly at the beginning of burnup fuel assembly. The diameter of 60 µm was selected

Fig. 4. Densities of 155Gd and 157Gd with burnup

Fig. 5. Comparison of pin-wise power distribution at 0 GWd/t

4
 HOANG VAN KHANH, HOANG THANH PHI HUNG, TRAN HOAI NAM

Fig. 6. Comparison of pin-wise power distribution at 5 GWd/t

Fig. 5 displays the pin-wise power pin-wise power distribution of the fuel
distribution at the beginning of burnup (0 assembly becomes slightly flatter.
GWd/t) in the new designed fuel assembly with
Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show the same pin-wise
Gd2O3 particles in comparison with that of the
power distribution as Fig. 5 but at the burnup
conventional assembly. The figure shows the
levels of 5 and 10 GWd/t since in this burnup
power in the 1/6th of the fuel assembly due to
stage the Gd2O3 still has effect on the
the symmetrical geometry. One can see that at
characteristics of the fuel assembly. At these
the two UO2+Gd2O3 fuel pins, the relative
burnup steps, the relative power at the Gd2O3 -
power densities at 0 GWd/t increase about 11%
dispersed fuel pins increases upto 1.8%
when using Gd2O3 particles compared to the
compared to that of the conventional assembly.
that of fuel pin with Gd2O3 mixed
At these burnup, part of the Gd2O3 particles has
homogeneously with UO2. At other fuel pins,
been burnt, and the function of the Gd2O3
the relative power densities decrease within
particles approaches to the homogeneous
0.6% in the outer region and increase within
distribution. This means that the difference of
0.8% in the central region. As a result, the
relative power in the Gd2O3-dispersed fuel pin
power peak appearing at the periphery fuel pin
is smaller compared to that at the beginning of
decreases by 0.9% (from 1.167 to 1.156). This
burnup stage (0 GWd/t).
means that by using the Gd2O3 particles, the

5
 NEUTRONICS FEASIBILITY OF USING Gd2O3 PARTICLES IN VVER-1000 FUEL ASSEMBLY

Fig. 7. Comparison of pin-wise power distribution at 10 GWd/t

Fig. 8. Pin-wise power peaking factor during burnup

Fig. 8 depicts the pin-wise power
peaking factor as a function of burnup of the
new fuel assembly in comparison with that of
the conventional design. The power peaking
factor is greater in the burnup stage of 0-10
GWd/t when the Gd2O3 amount has effect on
the reactivity. The power peaking factor
decreases with burnup and becomes slightly
stable around the value of 1.040-1.060 after 10
GWd/t. By using the Gd2O3 particles the power
peaking factor decreases slightly by about 0.9%
at the beginning of burnup. However, the main
merit achieved for the new fuel assembly with
Gd2O3 particles is the increase of the thermal

6
 HOANG VAN KHANH, HOANG THANH PHI HUNG, TRAN HOAI NAM
conductivity of the fuel pellet [4]. The results
obtained in this preliminary investigation show
that in the neutronics point of view it is feasible
to use Gd2O3 particles instead of powder in the
UO2 fuel pellet for excess reactivity controlling,
while the main neutronics characteristics could
be obtained similarly to that of the conventional
design. From the evolution of the power
peaking factor with burnup as shown in Fig. , it
suggests that the further investigation should be
conducted to flatten the power peaking in the
early burnup stage of the fuel assembly.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Investigation of the neutronics feasibility
of using Gd2O3 particles in the UO2 fuel pellet of
the VVER-1000 fuel assembly has been
conducted. The motivation is that by using
Gd2O3 particles instead of powder the thermal
conductivity of the UO2+ Gd2O3 fuel pellet
would increase [4]. The results show that with
the same content of 5% in volume, Gd2O3
particles with the diameter of 60 µm control
reactivity similarly to the homogeneous mixture.
The power density at the fuel pin with Gd2O3
particles increases by about 11% at the
beginning of burnup which leads to the slight
decrease of power peak and slightly flatter power
distribution. The power peak appearing at the
periphery pins at the beginning of burnup
decreases by 0.9% when using Gd2O3 particles.
The results demonstrate that by loading the same
amount of Gd2O3 but in form of particles with
the diameter of 60 µm instead of the powder in
the UO2 fuel pellet, the neutronics properties of
the new fuel assembly could be obtained
similarly to that of the conventional design.
In the future work, further investigation
are being conducted to optimize the high power
peaking at the beginning of burnup using Gd2O3
particles. Thermal hydraulics analysis of the new
fuel assembly will also be investigated in order
to estimate the advantage of the new design.
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research is funded by Vietnam
National Foundation for Science and
Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under
grant number 103.04-2014.79.
REFERENCES
[1] S. Fukushima, T. Ohmichi, A. Maeda, H.
Watanabe, "The effect of gadolinium content
on the thermal conductivity of near-
stoichiometric (U,Gd)O2 solid solutions". J.
Nucl. Mater., 105, 201–210, 1982.
[2] M. Amaya, M. Hirai, H. Sakurai, K. Ito, M.
Sasaki, T. Nomata, K. Kamimura, R. Iwasaki,
"Thermal conductivities of irradiated UO2 and
(U,Gd)O2 pellets". J. Nucl. Mater., 300, 57–64,
2002.
[3] D. Balestrieri, IAEA Technical Committee
Meeting on Advances in Pellet Technology for
Improved Performance at High Burnup, Paper
No. 2-1, 1996.
[4] K. Iwasaki, T. Matsui, K. Yanai, R. Yuda, Y.
Arita, T. Nagasaki, N. Yokoyama, I. Tokura, K.
Une, K. Harada, "Effect of Gd2O3 dispersion on
the thermal conductivity of UO2". J. Nucl. Sci.
Technol., 46:7, 673-676, 2009.
[5] NEA/NSC/DOC 10, Nuclear Energy Agency,
Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development, 2002.
[6] Nagaya, Y., Okumura, K., Mori, T., Nakagawa,
M., MVP/GMVP II: general purpose Monte
Carlo codes for neutron and photon transport
calculations based on continuous energy and
multigroup methods. JAER, I–1348, 2005.
[7] Shibata, K., et al., "Japanese evaluated nuclear
data library version 3 revision-3: Jendl-3.3", J.
Nucl. Sci. Technol. 39, 1125–1136, 2002.
[8] H.N. Tran, Y. Kato, "An optimal loading
principle of burnable poisons for an OTTO
refueling scheme in pebble bed HTGR cores".
Nucl. Eng. Des 239, 2357–2364, 2009.
[9] H.N. Tran, V.K. Hoang, "Neutronic
characteristics of an OTTO refueling PBMR".
Nucl. Eng. Des. 253, 269– 276, 2012.
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 08-15

Design and Construction of a Preamplifier for Research

Reactor Control System Using Russia’s Neutron Detectors
Trinh Dinh Hai, Vo Van Tai, Le Van Diep, Nguyen Nhi Dien

Dalat Nuclear Research Institute, 01 Nguyen Tu Luc, Dalat, Vietnam

(Received 10 August 2016, accepted 19 August 2016)

Abstract: This paper presents the design and construction of a preamplifier device for Research
Reactor Control System, using Russia’s Neutron Detectors of ionization and fission chambers. In this
work, the preamplifier device which consists of a wide range Current to Frequency Converter block
used with a compensation ionization chamber type KNK-3 to measure the thermal neutron flux in the
range of 1x106  1x1011 n/cm2.s, a Pulse Preamplifier block used with a fission chamber type KNK-15
to measure the thermal neutron flux in the range of 1x10 0  1x106 n/cm2.s, and a Power Supply block,
was designed and tested in different conditions in the laboratory and at Dalat Nuclear Research
Reactor (DNRR). Obtained results show that, the above blocks have almost design specifications as
equivalent or better in comparison with the same function blocks of the DNRR’s Control System
which were designed by the former Soviet Union. They also meet the utilization requirements as well
as the experimental and training purposes.
Keywords: Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor (DNRR), Instrumentation and Control (I&C), Fission
Chamber (FC), Compensation Ionization Chamber (CIC), Pulse Preamplifier (PP), Current to
Frequency Converter (CFC).

individual measuring channels (3 channels in

I. INTRODUCTION
The original DNRR’s I&C system was
designed and manufactured by the former
Soviet Union and put into operation in
November 1983. This system is divided into
four main parts [2, 5]: neutron flux control
system (NFCS), reactor data display system
(RDDS), control logic system (CLS), and
process and instrumentation system (PIS). The
NFCS measures the power and period of the
reactor; giving out analogue signal
proportional to the unbalance between the
reactor and the setting powers; and giving out
alarm and scram signals on power and period
for each measuring channel. The NFCS system
consists of three identical and independent
electronic units, namely, the information
acquisition and processing units (IAPU). The
neutron flux is measured over ten decades 10-8
 1.2x102 %Pn, Pn = 500 kWt) and is covered
by three overlapping measure ranges by nine
each IAPU):
- Source range (SR), 10-8  10-2% Pn;
- Intermediate range (IR), 10-3  10% Pn;
- Power range (PR), 1  120% Pn.
To control the neutron flux of the
reactor, nine neutron detectors with gamma
compensation (6 fission chambers type KNK-
15 and 3 compensation ionization chambers
type KNK-3) were used. The KNK-15
chambers are operated in the pulse mode for
the SR and IR ranges, while the KNK-3
chambers are used in current mode for the
power range. After the modernization and
refurbishment project during 2005-2007 with
the replacement of neutron measurement and
signal processing parts of the original I&C
system, two individual measuring channels (SR
and PR) of IAPUs were kept for the
experimental purposes.

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 TRINH DINH HAI, VO VAN TAI, LE VAN DIEP, NGUYEN NHI DIEN

In order to master the DNRR’s I&C II. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF

system not only for managing and safety
operation of the reactor but also for the
development of human resources in serving
nuclear power program in the future, in the
framework of the MOST’s research project
during 2013-2014, we have studied on the
design and construction of the new
preamplifier device consisted of a wide range
Current to Frequency Converter block, a Pulse
Preamplifier block and a Power Supply block,
and used the Russia’s Neutron Detectors of the
old IAPUs mentioned above. Main obtained
results of the studies are presented and
discussed in this paper.
THE PREAMPLIFIER DEVICE
A. The detectors
Two types of KNK-3 and KNK-15
detectors of the old IAPU’s were used for
testing, calibration and evaluation of the new
designed preamplifier device. Technical
specifications of these detectors are given in
Table I and Fig. 1 [3, 4]. These detectors are
placed in the dry channels outside the reactor
core without the surrounding radiation
shielding structure and tested with the different
levels of reactor power.

Table I. Specifications of KNK-3 and KNK-15.

Fig. 1. The diagram of KNK-3 and KNK-15 detectors.

9
 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PREAMPLIFIER FOR …

B. Pulse Preamplifier block [1] Discriminator D7 is used for separating

1. Design description
Pulse Preamplifier block is intended for
amplification of paraphrase current pulses from
KNK-15 detector, for discrimination of noise
pulses and for generation of pulses caused by
neutron radiation. Its structural diagram is
shown in Fig. 2.
In order to increase its noise immunity,
after preamplifier D1 (D1 is a voltage sensitive
amplifier, which used transistor common base
configuration), amplifier is divided into two
channels: the channel of useful signals
amplification (D3, D5) and the channel of
noises separation (D2, D4). Amplification
sections of both channels are built on
operational amplifiers, and communications
between them are organized in such a way that
in one channel useful paraphrase signals are
amplified in maximum extent, and in other
channel - inphase noise pulses are separated.
useful signals from noises which amplitude is
less than the amplitude of useful signals. By
means of discriminator D6, noise pulses
comparable by amplitude with useful signals
are selected. Pulses from discriminator D6 are
generated at univibrator UV and interlock
passing of noise signals by means of passage
circuit (PSC). Output signal is pulse
frequency which is in proportion with neutron
flux. Counting rate metter (CRM) is used for
automatically changing discrimination
threshold Uth2 to reduce noise pulses. It plays
an important role for more rejection of noise
pulses caused by the pulse pile-up. This is an
advanced design to expand the frequency
range of input pulses from neutron detector.
In the checking mode, generator of pulses
(GPch) is started by trigger from a power
supply (Vch).

-400VDC
R60 Check
1 2
Uch +Vch
KNK-15
R18 R59
1k
R64
+12v
Uth2
C4
GPch CRM
R19 10nF R58
1k

D4 D6 UV
SIGNAL D2 OUT

R4
1k D1 PSC
D3 COUNTER
D5
R1 C3 R34 D7 DT
1k 10nF

Uth1 +12v
+250VDC R63

NOTE:
D1: PREAMPLIFIER PSC: PASSAGE CIRCUIT
D2-D5: AMPLIFIER CRM: COUNTING RATE METER
D6-D7: DISCRIMINATOR Uth1,2: WORKING DISCRIMINATION THRESHOLD
DT: CIRCUIT OF SAMPLING BY DURATION GPch: GENERATOR OF PULSES OF CHECK
UV: UNIVIBRATOR +Vch: +12V CHECK

Fig. 2.The structural diagram of the pulse amplifier.

2. Testing and results
In the laboratory:
The designed Pulse Preamplifier block
has been tested and calibrated in the laboratory
for correction of important parameters such as:
the gain of preamplifier, discrimination
thresholds and range of operating frequency,
etc. The Pulse Preamplifier was also tested in
many conditions of temperature and humidity
in the Programmable Temperature and
Humidity Chamber (KEJIAN KJ2091 No.15-
226). The testing diagram is shown in Fig. 3,
and the relation between input and output pulse
frequency is shown in Fig. 4.

10
 TRINH DINH HAI, VO VAN TAI, LE VAN DIEP, NGUYEN NHI DIEN

Pulse Preamplifier Oscillocope

Frequency F Tek TDS1012

Generator Devide

TG501 Signal 1 Frequency meter

GFC-8131H
Signal 2

GND
-12V

+12V

+5V

GND

Fig. 3. Testing diagram for the pulse preamplifier block.

Fig. 4. The relation between input and output pulse frequency.

At the reactor: power level and output pulse frequency of the

Pulse Preamplifier block are shown in Fig. 6.
The Pulse Preamplifier block was
In the range of power levels from 10-5 Pn to 10-2
connected to the KNK-15 detector of the
%Pn, output pulse frequencies are in good
source chanel No.1 and tested at some reactor
proportion with the reactor power levels.
power levels from 10-5 to 10-2% Pn (Fig. 5).
The testing results and the relation between

Fig. 5. Testing of the Pulse Preamplifier block at the DNRR.

11
 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PREAMPLIFIER FOR …

Fig. 6. The relation between power and frequency.

3. Main specifications of the Pulse
Preamplifier block
- Sensitivity: 1 cps/n;
- Measurement range of thermal neutron flux:
0,1 ÷ 2.105 nv;
- Range of output frequency: 0.1 Hz ÷ 250 kHz;
- Pulse amplitude: +12V;
- Power supply: +12VDC/ 400mA, -12VDC/
200mA and +5VDC/300mA.
C. Current to Frequency Converter block
1. Design description
The Current to Frequency Converter (CFC)
block has been designed and developed based on
the balanced charge integrating techniques with
the structural diagram is given in Fig. 7.
The input current (I_in) from KNK-3
detector is charged for capacitor Cin, included
into negative feedback circuit of operation
amplifier (Amp). When the voltage at the
output of integrator achieves the value equal to
the threshold of the comparator, the Comp
-400VDC
KNK-3
actuates and the output signal from the Comp
triggers univibrator UV.
At the output of the univibrator, pulse of
the positive polarity with the duration
determined by a resistance R1 and a capacitor
C1, starts the operation of discharge circuit and
the capacitor Cin is discharged. The rheostart
Rconv is used for fine regulation of the
conversion coefficient.
In “Test” mode, potential +12V is
supplied to relay Re, through the contacts of
relay current I_ch is applied to input of
converter via resistors Rch1 and Rch2. The
current value is selected in such a way that
output pulses of the converter have fixed
frequency equal to 25 kHz.
Compensation resistors Rcomp1
(smoothly) and Rcomp2 (discretely) are used
for compensation of background current.
Rch1
+12V -12V
5
4
3

R18 1
1k Rcomp1 2 Test
+12V -12V
+12V
Re
Rch2
C4 Rcomp2 I_ch
R19 10nF
1k R1 C1
I_comp
R
SIGNAL
I_in Amp Comp F_out
R4
1k
UV TG ER

R1 C3
1k 10nF

+250VDC
Vref

Cin Discharge Rconv

Fig. 7. The block diagram of the current to frequency converter.

12
 TRINH DINH HAI, VO VAN TAI, LE VAN DIEP, NGUYEN NHI DIEN

2. Testing and results diagram is shown in Fig. 8 and the dependence

In the laboratory: of the output pulse frequency on the input
The CFC block covers the range from 3 current value is shown in Fig. 9.
nA to 1 mA of the input current. The testing

+
- P4833
SW

R1 R2
1M 10K
KEITHLEY 614 PREAMPLIFIER FREQUENCY COUNTER
ELECTROMETER GND
+ - - GFC-8131H
I_IN F_OUT
nA uA +

Fig. 8. The testing diagram for the CFC block.

Fig. 9. The relation between input current and output pulse frequency of the CFC.
At the reactor: connected to the KNK-3 detector of the power
The maximum output current from the range No.1 and tested at some reactor power
KNK-3 detector at power of 500 kW is only levels from 10-1 to 102% Pn (Fig. 10.a). Fig. 10.b
about 400μA, so that the CFC block was shows the relation between the power levels and
calibrated for working in the range from 1 nA to the output frequencies of the CFC block.
400 μA of the input current. The CFC was

(a) (b)
Fig. 10. Testing CFC block at the Dalat NRR.

13
 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PREAMPLIFIER FOR …

3. Main specifications of the CFC block Table II. Main specifications of the power supply block.

- Range of input current: 3 nA  1 mA; High voltage power Low voltage power
supply supply
- Range of output frequency: 0 Hz  350 kHz;
Input voltage: 10.8 Input voltage: 18  36
- Linearity in full range: 99%; VDC to 13.2 VDC VDC
- Pulse amplitude: +12V; Positive high voltage Output voltage ±
adjustment range from 12VDC and output
- Power supply: ±12 VDC/200mA and +5 0 to +500 VDC current max: 1250 mA
VDC/300mA. Negative high voltage Output voltage +5
adjustment range from VDC and output
D. Power Supply block [1] 0 to -500 VDC current max: 1000mA
The Power Supply block is intended Max Current: 6mA Ripple and noise: <
±30mVpk
for the organization of electric supply for
Ripple and noise: 30
neutron detectors, CFC and Pulse mVPk-Pk
Preamplifier blocks. It consists of a high Short circuit and over
voltage power supply unit and a low voltage voltage protection
power supply unit. The high voltage power The power supply block was tested in
supply unit used THV 12-500P/N different conditions of temperature and
components and the low power supply unit humidity with all its main specifications as
used TEN15-2412 components of TRACO shown in Fig. 11. The testing results were
POWER Company. Its main specifications presented in the final report of the research
are shown in the Table II. project [1].

Fig. 11. Testing of the power supply block.

III. CONCLUSION order to fully test the Pulse Preamplifier block

at the operation condition of the reactor, a
A new preamplifier device (Fig. 12)
special permit and significant time resources
which intended for research reactor I&C
were required. In this regard, a device that
system, has been designed and constructed. The
simulates the FC signals in different modes is
testing results have shown that almost its
necessary to design and fabricate [6]. FC signal
design specifications are equivalent or better in
simulator allows us to generate a model signal
comparison with the same function blocks of
of FC in a wide range of pulse rates, i.e. allows
the DNRR’s control system which was made
modeling different modes of FC.
by the former Soviet Union and can be used for
the experimental and training purposes. In

14
 TRINH DINH HAI, VO VAN TAI, LE VAN DIEP, NGUYEN NHI DIEN

Fig. 12. The designed preamplifier device.

REFERENCES [4] И. Я. Емельянов, А.И. Ефанов, Л. В.

Констатинов, Научно –технические основы
[1] Trinh Dinh Hai, Final report of the MOST’s управления ядерными реакторами, Москва
research project: Study on design and Энергоиздат 1981.
fabrication of a preamplifier device using for
[5] Dien Nguyen Nhi and Hai Trinh Dinh, Dalat
nuclear research reactor control system, Dalat
research reactor and its control and
2015.
instrumentation system renovation, IAEA-
[2] Комплекс Аппаратуры Контроля TECDOC-1625, August 2009.
Нейтронного Потока -5.
[6] A. V. Batyunin, V. A. Vorobyev, S. Yu.
Техническое Описание и Инструкция по
Obudovsky, S. A. Shvikin, Yu. A. Kaschuck,
эксплутации, 1981.
Fission chamber simulator for data acquisition
[3] С. В Волков, Н. С Кирилин, Детекторы performance tests, DOI:
нейтронов для программно-управляемых 10.1109/ANIMMA.2013.6728083.
каналов контроля нейтронного потока,
Приборы и системы. Упраправление,
контроль, диагностика. No. 10, 2006.

15
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 16-30

Development of an MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling scheme for

burnup calculation of VVER-1000 fuel assemblies
Nguyen Huy Hiep*, Nguyen Huu Tiep, Tran Viet Phu, Nguyen Tuan Khai

Nuclear Power Center, Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology

179 Hoang Quoc Viet, Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam
*email: huyhiep.sneep@gmail.com
(Received 15 July 2016, accepted 15 September 2016)

Abstract: The paper aims to develop an MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling scheme for burnup calculation.
Specifically, the Monte Carlo neutron transport code (MCNP5) and the nuclides depletion and decay
calculation code (ORIGEN2) are combined by data processing and linking files written in the PERL
programming language. The validity and applicability of the developed coupling scheme are tested
through predicting the neutronic and isotopic behavior of the “VVER-1000 LEU Assembly
Computational Benchmark”. The MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling results showed a good agreement with
the k-inf benchmark values within 600 pcm during the entire burnup history. In addition, the
differences of isotopes concentration at the end of the burnup (40 MWd/kgHM) when compared with
benchmark values were reasonable and generally within 6.5%. The developed coupling scheme also
considered the shielding effect due to gadolinium isotopes and simulated well the depletion of isotopes
as a function of the radial position in gadolinium bearing fuel rods.
Keywords: MCNP5, ORIGEN2, burnup, coupling, VVER-1000 LEU.

I. INTRODUCTION weeks. Such weakness is no longer a too difficult

In the field of reactor core management,
which consists of nuclear fuel burnup calculation,
deterministic and Monte Carlo methods are
widely used to solve the neutron transport
equation. Each method has advantages and
weaknesses. Deterministic method (e.g.,
collision probability method) has major
advantage of the short computer time needed to
find solutions while the disadvantages are related
to the energy groups collapsing or the ability
dealing with complicated reactor core geometries,
which may lead to significant errors in the
results. Whereas, the Monte Carlo based codes
such as MCNP can model an arbitrary geometry
and use continuous energy libraries. For that
reason, they will provide high accurate solution
to the neutron transport equation. However, the
Monte Carlo method requests to use a large
number of neutron histories and consequently
this can be time consuming. For example, a
simulation with multiple runs may be of little
practical value if each run requires days or
problem because nowadays, computers are able
to perform simulations much more efficiently
and quickly than before. For this reason, the
Monte Carlo based codes are being widely used
in nuclear reactors calculation.
In recent decades, a number of Monte
Carlo burnup calculation code systems have
been developed worldwide thanks to the
advancement of computer science. Some Monte
Carlo codes were added with an auxiliary
module which has the function of depletion
calculation such as MVP-BURN [1] and
BURNCAL [2] while several ones were
coupled with a special depletion and decay
calculation code such as the MCNP-ORIGEN
coupling strategy based codes, which are
regularly used. In detail, MCNP [3]
performance provides some parameters such as
multiplication factor, neutron flux distribution,
and neutron cross sections for a given
compositional model while ORIGEN [4]
calculates time-dependent fuel material

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI
compositions via irradiation, transmutation,
activation, fission, and decay in the nuclear
reactor environment. The first MCNP-ORIGEN
coupling program was created in 1995 by the
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory (INEEL) with the name MOCUP
(MCNP-ORIGEN Coupling Utility Program)
[5]. MOCUP was written in ANSI C
programming language and had a friendly
interactive interface which was based on the
portable X11 window environment and the
Motif tool kit. MOCUP, however, only
accounted for 17 actinides (ACT) and 41 fission
products (FP). Four years later (1999), the Los
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) released
their version of an MCNP-ORIGEN coupler,
MONTEBURNS [6], written in FORTRAN and
PERL. MONTEBURNS used a simple
predictor-corrector method to improve the
accuracy of the ORIGEN depletion calculation.
In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) distributed another MCNP-
ORIGEN combined program, MCODE
(MCNP-ORIGEN DEpletion program) [7],
written in ANSI C. In MCODE, there are 39
actinides and 100 fission products considered in
the burnup calculations, which account for
more than 99% of neutron absorptions. In 2007,
a burnup simulation system was developed at
CIEMAT (Centro de Investigaciones
Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas),
Spain with the name EVOLCODE (Burn-up
EVOLution Simulation CODE) [8]. In
EVOLCODE, MCNPX was coupled with two
point-depletion codes, ORIGEN and ACAB [9],
to enlarge the number of nuclear reactions taken
into account by the irradiation calculations. In
2013, another MCNP-ORIGEN burnup
calculation code system, named MCORE
(MCNP and ORIGEN burn-up Evaluation
code) [10], was developed at Xi‟an Jiaotong
University, China. In MCORE, besides the
investigation of the reactivity effects and
isotopic inventory as a function of burnup, it is
also capable of simulating the fuel shuffling
process after burnup calculation. In general,
17
these MCNP-ORIGEN burnup calculation code
systems, which are mentioned above, have a
special attention in ORIGEN depletion
calculation. The fact is that the cross sections
and neutron flux values vary continuously
throughout reactor operation time, thus
beginning-of-time-step values are not fully
representative of the entire time step, unless the
time step is extremely small. For instance, in
MOCUP, cross sections and flux values at
beginning-of-time-step are assumed constant
over the entire time step. With such simple
method, the user needs small enough time steps
to obtain high accurate results. After the
development of MOCUP, other MCNP-
ORIGEN coupling codes used a predictor-
corrector algorithm for the depletion calculation
in ORIGEN. This integrated algorithm allows
the user to create larger time steps.
In Vietnam, combining a Monte Carlo
based code with a depletion and decay code to
realize burnup calculations, has received much
attention in recent years. Typically, a REBUS-
MCNP linkage system was used for core and
fuel management of the Dalat Nuclear Research
Reactor (DNRR) [11][12]. Moreover, a
depletion calculation code using Radau IIA
Implicit Runge Kutta method was developed in
combination with MCNP5 and named MCDL
(Monte Carlo Depletion for Light Water
Reactor) to investigate burnup of DNRR [13].
However, the study on the combination of
Monte Carlo code and depletion code for
burnup calculation of commercial reactors such
as VVER-1000 has not yet been done. For this
reason, the aim of this study is to develop a
coupling scheme between MCNP5 and
ORIGEN2 codes to perform burnup calculation
of VVER-1000 fuel assemblies, in which we
used the simple approach adopted in MOCUP,
for the sake of simplicity. To validate the
MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling program, a
VVER-1000 LEU benchmark assembly [14]
was calculated and analyzed. The obtained
calculation results showed a good agreement
with the benchmark.
 DEVELOPMENT OF AN MCNP5-ORIGEN2 COUPLING SCHEME FOR …

II. METHODOLOGY removal rate per unit volume of isotope i by

neutron absorption, and i Ni the removal rate
A. Depletion and decay calculation
per unit volume of isotope i by decay.
In a nuclear reactor environment,
formation of new isotopes comes primarily To solve the equation (1) one need to
from fission, neutron capture, and decay. gather information of important parameters such
Likewise, destruction of isotopes also comes as neutron fluxes and cross sections. Such
from these processes. An equation for modeling parameters are in fact not constant over the entire
isotopic depletion is expressed as follows: cycle. That is why the cycle needs to be divided
into a number of small time steps, during which
dN i
   ji f , j N j     c ,k i N k  ... the coefficients such as cross-sections and
dt j k neutron fluxes are assumed to be constant. These
  l i Nl  ( f ,i N i    a ,i N i   i N i )
constant coefficients can be calculated by the
l MCNP5 program for a specified geometry at a
(1) certain time step, and then used in ORIGEN2
calculations to provide the material compositions
where dN i is the rate of change in for the next time step. The calculations are
dt
repeated till the final time step. The coupling
concentration of isotope i, 
j
 f , j N j  the
ji
procedure between the MCNP5 and ORIGEN2
production rate per unit volume of isotope i codes is presented in the next section.
from fission of all fissionable isotopes, B. Description of MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupler
 c,k i Nk  the production rate per unit
k
The developed MCNP5-ORIGEN2
volume of isotope from neutron transmutation coupler was written in the PERL programming
of all isotopes,  l i Nl the production rate language. The coupler consists of PERL files,
l which can generate the MCNP5 and ORIGEN2
per unit volume of isotope i from decay of all input files, modify and update the cross-section
isotopes,  f ,i Ni  the removal rate per unit library of ORIGEN2 during burnup, and
process the data in the MCNP5 and ORIGEN2
volume of isotope i by fission,  a ,i Ni  the
output files automatically.

Fig. 1. MCNP5-ORIGEN coupling flow diagram

18
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI

This coupler provides full capabilities of equation (2) [15] should be used to normalize
the Monte Carlo code MCNP5 and the the F4 flux tally (ΦF4):
versatile nuclides depletion and decay code  neutron 
P W   
ORIGEN2. It makes use of the tally  neutron   fission  1  1 
   F 4  2 
information of MCNP5 to get neutron fluxes  cm s  
2
13 J   MeV  keff  cm 
1.6022 10  wf
and nuclides cross-sections, which are  MeV   fission 

processed to obtain input information of (2)

ORIGEN2 for every active cell. After running
ORIGEN2, the coupler exploits the depletion
and decay information from ORIGEN2 output
files and provides the material compositions of
all active cells for the next time step. The
coupling procedure is illustrated in Fig. 1. The
normalization of the neutron flux values
obtained by MCNP5 and the generation of the
one-group cross sections for performing
ORIGEN2 calculations are presented in
sections 2.3 and 2.4, respectively.
C. Neutron flux normalization
Since all tallies in MCNP5 are
normalized as per fission source neutron, the
flux values are in units of (number-of-
neutrons)/(fission-source-neutron)/cm2, which
needs to be multiplied by a constant factor to
convert into (number-of-neutrons)/(cm2.second)
for using in ORIGEN2. The constant factor can
be calculated based on the power of the system.
The system producing power P needs P
fissions per second, where wf denotes effective
energy released per fission event. Although the
value of wf will vary somewhat with the type of
reactor and the detailed core composition, it is
typically taken by 198 MeV for steady state
condition. This fission rate produces P
neutrons per second, where  denotes the
average number of neutrons released per fission.
For subcritical and supercritical systems, one
1
should multiply the above result by
keff
maintain the critical i.e. steady-state power
level system (k = 1). Accordingly, the following
where Φ denotes the actual total neutron flux in
the system.
D. Cross-section calculation
ORIGEN2, unlike MCNP5, uses one-
group cross sections which are averaged for all
energies, whereas in MCNP5, cross sections are
available for all energy points. Therefore one
can use MCNP5 to generate a mean cross
section for all energies, which can be used in
the ORIGEN2 code to update the one-group
cross-section library. Such MCNP5 calculation
can be done by using the F4 and FM4 tallies.
The F4 tally gives neutron flux in a cell while
the FM4 tally can multiply flux by cross
sections in all energy points for each isotope
and each reaction. Finally, the dividing FM4
value by F4 value can give a one-group cross
section for that isotope and for all important
reactions. The Eq. (3) shows how the above
approach will be done.
  ( E )( E )dE FM 4 (3)
wf
 E

 ( E )dE
E
F4
For fission products, only neutron
capture cross sections are calculated since their
principal effect is due to neutron absorption.
For actinides, four type of cross sections are
wf considered including (n,γ), (n,f), (n,2n), and
(n,3n) reactions because actinides are important
in terms of generating fission source neutrons
and transforming into higher-mass actinides
(see Eq.(1)).
to
Because of the excessive computer time
and the unavailability of many MCNP5 cross-
sections, only a limited set of libraries of

19
 DEVELOPMENT OF AN MCNP5-ORIGEN2 COUPLING SCHEME FOR …

important nuclides, 24 actinides and 61 fission
products, were updated by using MCNP5 as
shown in Table I. In ORIGEN2 depletion
calculations, the cross sections, which are not
provided by MCNP5, are taken from the
ORIGEN2 one-group cross section library
PWRU.LIB (PWR library, thermal spectrum)
which includes 129 actinides and 879 fission
products. The cross sections for most of the
isotopes are obtained from ENDF/B-IV,
ENDF/B-V, and ENDF/B-VI, while for the
Table I. List of nuclides were updated the one-group cross sections library using MCNP5
others, data from libraries evaluated at different
laboratories are used. Because the MCNP5
cross section libraries are only available at
certain temperatures (293, 600, 900, 1200K),
libraries of U-235, U-238, Pu-239 were created
from JEFF3.2 at 1027K (the required
benchmark temperature) by the NJOY99 code
[16] in order to consider the Doppler
broadening of resonance cross sections of these
three important isotopes.

U-234, U-235, U-236, U-237, U-238, U-239, Np-236, Np-237,

Np-238, Np-239, Pu-238, Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241, Pu-242,
24 Actinides
Pu-243, Am-241, Am-242, Am-243, Cm-242, Cm-243,
Cm-244, Cm-245, Cm-246

Kr-83, Y-89, Zr-91, Zr-92, Zr-93, Zr-94, Zr-96, Mo-95,

Tc-99, Ru-101, Ru-103, Rh-103, Rh-105, Pd-104, Pd-105,
Pd-106, Pd-108, Ag-109, Cd-110, Cd-111, Cd-112, Cd-113,
I-127, I-129, I-135, Xe-130, Xe-131, Xe-132, Xe-134, Xe-135,
61 Fission
Xe-136, Cs-133, Cs-134, Cs-135, Cs-137, Ba-138, Pr-141,
products*
Nd-143, Nd-145, Nd-147, Nd-148, Pm-147, Pm-148, Pm-149,
Sm-147, Sm-149, Sm-150, Sm-151, Sm-152, Eu-151, Eu-152,
Eu-153, Eu-154, Eu-155, Gd-152, Gd-154, Gd-155,
Gd-156, Gd-157, Gd-158, Gd-160

Library in
JEFF3.2 (U-235, U238, Pu-239) (Created by NJOY99)
MCNP5
ENDL92 (Np-236, Np-238)
LANL (U-239)
ENDF/B-IV, ENDF/B-V, ENDF/B-VI (other nuclides)

1027K (U-235, U-238, Pu-239) (Created by NJOY99)

Library's
880.8K (Xe-135)
temperature
293.6K, 300K (other nuclides)

*34 FPs shown in bold characters are important in reactivity prediction [17]. These 34 FPs were used
for criticality calculation in MCNP5.

III. BENCHMARK ANALYSIS
The MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling
scheme was validated through predicting the
neutronic and isotopic behavior of a VVER-
1000 LEU benchmark assembly [14]. The
results of coupling calculations were compared
with those of several burnup codes including
MCU, TVS-M, WIMS8A, HELIOS, Multicell
and to the Benchmark Mean (BM) values. Each
MCNP5 run was done with 50 millions neutron
histories that lead to a statistical error of about
±10 pcm (±1σ) for k-inf. This section presents
the specification of the VVER-1000 LEU
assembly (section 3.1) and the analysis and
discussion about the calculated results (sections
3.2-3.4).

20
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI
A. VVER-1000 LEU assembly benchmark
specification
The VVER-1000 LEU hexagonal
assembly consists of one central tube, 18 guide
tubes, and 312 fuel pin locations (12 of which
are gadolinium rods - UGD). The hexagonal
lattice pitch of the assembly is 23.6 cm. The
fuel pins, which are cylindrical and cladded
with Zirconium alloy have a pitch of 1.275 cm.
The benchmark assembly is shown in Fig. 2 and
consists of fuel rods with 3.7 wt.% enrichment.
Cell numeration in the 1/6 of the fuel assembly
for simulating different isotopic composition is
as shown in Fig. 3.The 12 UGD pins have a
235
U enrichment of 3.6 wt.% and a Gd2O3
content of 4.0 wt.%. Descriptions of material
Fig. 2. MCNP5 model of the VVER-1000 LEU benchmark assembly
21
composition of fuel pins, cladding and
moderator are given in Table II.
The calculations are performed under hot
operating poisoned condition, i.e. at Tfuel =
1027K, Tmoderator = 575K with equilibrium 135Xe
and 149Sm concentrations, a power density of
108 MWt/m3 up to a burnup of 40 MWd/kgHM.
The burnup calculation is realized with 30 steps
of 0.5 MWd/kgHM and 10 step of 2.5
MWd/kgHM. The Gd rods are divided into 10
annuli of equal area in order to account for the
shielding effect due to gadolinium isotopes.
This permits us to easily calculate the nuclides
concentrations as a function of the radial
position (5 regions required in benchmark
document [14]).
 DEVELOPMENT OF AN MCNP5-ORIGEN2 COUPLING SCHEME FOR …

Fig. 3. Cell numeration in the 1/6 of the benchmark assembly

Table II. Material composition of the VVER-1000 LEU benchmark assembly

Material name Comment Isotopic content (atoms/barn-cm)
235 16
UO2 LEU fuel 3.7 w/o enrichment U 8.6264E-4 O 4.6063E-2
238
U 2.2169E-2
UGD LEU fuel of 3.6 w/o of 235U 235
U 7.2875E-4 155
Gd 1.8541E-4
238 156
containing 4 w/o of Gd2O3 U 1.9268E-2 Gd 2.5602E-4
16 157
O 4.1854E-2 Gd 1.9480E-4
152 158
Gd 2.5159E-6 Gd 3.0715E-4
154 160
Gd 2.7303E-5 Gd 2.6706E-4
Cladding Zirconium alloy Zr 4.259E-2 Hf 6.597E-6
Nb 4.225E-4
10
Moderator Light water with 0.6 g/kg of H 4.483E-2 B 4.794E-6
16 11
boron, Tm = 575K, d = 0.7235 O 2.422E-2 B 1.942E-5
g/cm3

B. K-inf versus burnup in beginning burnup steps and then the

The infinite multiplication factor (k-inf)
of the VVER-1000 LEU Benchmark Assembly
was calculated with respect to burnup using
MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling scheme and
compared with those obtained by the
aforementioned burnup codes as shown in Fig.4
The differences in the k-inf values of these
codes from benchmark mean values are also
shown separately in Table III.
Table III shows that, the k-inf results
obtained using MCNP5-ORIGEN2 are in
satisfactory agreement with the results
estimated by the rest of burnup codes. The k-inf
values between MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling
scheme and the BM values are slighly different
difference increases in later ones. The
maximum of the deviation with BM values are
440, 400, 460, 260, 360, 585 pcm for MCU,
TVS-M, WIMS8A, HELIOS, MULTICELL,
and MCNP5-ORIGEN2, respectively. As can
be seen in Figure 4, at the beginning, the
reactivity slightly increases with burnup due to
the use of Gd2O3 in UO2 for core reactivity
control. As the gadolinium isotopes burn out,
the reactivity starts to decrease with burnup in a
roughly linear manner due to the effect of
fissile material depletion and neutron-absorber
accumulation. It is obviously seen that the
effect on reactivity of the gadolinium absorber
is well simulated by the MCNP5-ORIGEN2
coupling scheme.

22
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI

Fig. 4. Variation of k-inf with burnup for VVER-1000 LEU

Benchmark Assembly

Table III. Deviation of k-inf values from benchmark mean values

Deviation from BM Values, pcm

Burnup
(MWd/kgHM) MCNP5-
MCU TVS-M WIMS8A HELIOS MULTICELL
ORIGEN2
0 30 30 -220 50 130 14
1 150 -40 -460 120 210 117
2 -30 -20 -390 200 250 167
3 180 -110 -400 170 160 84
4 40 -80 -320 220 160 111
5 50 -100 -270 220 90 44
6 70 -110 -210 200 30 12
7 140 -100 -210 170 10 -24
8 210 -100 -290 140 40 51
9 -30 -10 -290 180 160 228
10 70 -40 -370 140 180 315
11 -70 0 -350 180 240 432
12 30 -40 -380 160 210 413
13 -60 -20 -360 180 230 485
14 80 -50 -380 160 200 471
15 20 -40 -350 180 210 489
20 -80 -60 -280 240 160 585
25 30 -140 -190 250 50 556
30 140 -240 -80 250 -80 546
35 440 -390 10 200 -280 466
40 260 -400 230 260 -360 493

23
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI
C. Isotopic composition versus burnup
Figs. 5-15 display the MCNP5-
ORIGEN2 calculations for the isotopic
composition variation as a function of burnup
of nuclides 235U, 236U, 238U, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu,
242
Pu, 135Xe, 149Sm, 155Gd and 157Gd,
respectively in cell-1 and cell-24 of the VVER-
1000 LEU benchmark assembly in comparison
with the benchmark mean values [14], where
we can see a good agreement. It should be
noted that the deviations obtained from the
comparison mentioned above at the end of the
burnup (40 MWd/kgHM) are generally within
6.5% as shown in Table IV.
As can be seen in Figs. 14-15, the
depletion of the burnable absorbers 155Gd and
157
Gd is well simulated in the MCNP5-
ORIGEN2 coupling scheme. The figures show
that 157Gd depletes faster than 155Gd due to its
higher absorption cross section (155σa = 60,801
barns and 157σa = 253,929 barns at thermal
neutron 0.0253 eV). Despite the deviation from
BM values of 157Gd isotope in gadolinium
bearing fuel rod exceeds 15%, this percentage
of the small concentration of 157Gd (1.469E-7
Fig. 5. 235U isotopic composition as a function of
burnup
24
atoms/barn-cm at the end of cycle) is negligible
in the burnup calculation. The results from
MCORE, an MCNP4C-ORIGEN2.1 coupling
code, developed by Meiyin Zheng et. al. in
2013 [10] showed a better agreement with the
BM values. In MCORE‟s results, the deviation
from BM value at 40 MWD/kgHM is only -
2.0% for 157Gd when compare with -15.07% in
this research. One of the reason is MCORE
considered 37 actinides and 101 fission
products in burnup calculations when compare
with 24 actinides and 61 fission products in this
work. In MCORE, the NJOY system code was
also used to process the source evaluated
nuclear data files into libraries useable for
MCNP code. Another reason for the more
accurate results in MCORE is that the code
considered (n,γ), (n,2n), (n,α) and (n,p)
reactions for updating fission product‟s libraries
while this study only considered (n,γ). Besides,
MCORE obtained more reliable results due to
the burnup calculation was realized with 60
steps of 0.25 MWD/kgHM and 50 steps of 0.5
MWD/kgHM when compare with only 30 steps
of 0.5 MWD/kgHM and 10 steps of 2.5
MWD/kgHM in this work.
Fig. 6. 236U isotopic composition as a function of
burnup
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI

Fig. 7. 238U isotopic composition as a function of Fig. 8. 239Pu isotopic composition as a function of
burnup burnup

Fig. 9. 240Pu isotopic composition as a function of Fig. 10. 241Pu isotopic composition as a function of
burnup burnup

Fig. 11. 242Pu isotopic composition as a function of Fig. 12. 135Xe isotopic composition as a function of
burnup burnup

25
 DEVELOPMENT OF AN MCNP5-ORIGEN2 COUPLING SCHEME FOR …

Fig. 13. 149Sm isotopic composition as a function of Fig. 14. 155Gd isotopic composition as a function of
burnup burnup

Fig. 15. 157Gd isotopic composition as a function of burnup

Table IV. Isotopic composition error (%) compared to BM values at 40 MWd/kgHM

235 236 238 239 240 241 242 135 149 155 157
Isotope U U U Pu Pu Pu Pu Xe Sm Gd Gd
Cell 1 -4.82 4.99 0.07 -4.69 6.29 3.78 6.20 -1.07 3.52
Cell 24 -3.30 4.89 -0.09 -6.14 3.81 3.18 5.50 -1.45 4.16 -1.42 -15.07

D. Isotopic composition versus fuel volume gadolinium pin radial zones for burnup point 40
radius MWd/kgHM (235U and 239Pu) and for burnup
point 2 MWd/kgHM (155Gd and 157Gd) are
As mentioned in section 3.1, every UGD
presented in Figs. 16-19. The radial
rod has radial sub-divisions (10 rings) in order
distributions of the 235U, 239Pu and 155Gd
to take into account the shielding effect due to
calculated by MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling
gadolinium. In this section, the concentration of
scheme showed good agreement with the
some isotopes in 5 zones (each zone consists of
benchmark results. In detail, the deviation
2 rings) of cell 24 (see Fig. 3) were calculated
between MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling scheme
and compared with benchmark mean values.
and BM composition for 235U, 239Pu and 155Gd
The isotopic compositions in five fuel-

26
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI
in outer zone are only -3.6%, -5.28% and
6.69% as shown in Table V, respectively. The
157
Gd concentration, however, had a huge
deviation of nearly 50% in the outer zone as
compared to the BM value. This is due to the
fact that 157Gd has neutron absorption cross-
section larger than 155Gd and therefore it burns
most in the outer zone. Consequently, the
concentration of 157Gd at outer zone is small
and leads to a large statistical error.
One can see from Fig. 17 that the
gradient in 239Pu concentration falls off nearly
exponentially within the fuel volume. This is
due to the spatial resonance self-shielding, there
are more 238U absorptions in the outer ring.
More 239Pu, therefore, is produced towards the
Fig. 16. 235U isotopic composition versus radius
Fig. 18. 155Gd isotopic composition versus radius
27
surface of the fuel pellet. Such 239Pu-formation
by the neutron resonance absorption is well
known via the so-called “rim effect”. As the
burnup increases, the local burnup in the fuel
close to the surface is largely increased due to
239
Pu-formation and therefore the “rim effect”
becomes more predominant at high burnup as
can be seen in Fig. 20.
Figs. 18-19 show that gadolinium mostly
burns in the outer rings due to the high
absorption cross section of 155Gd and 157Gd.
Gadolinium burning shifts toward the inner
rings with fuel burnup until all gadolinium
isotopes burn out such as the depletion of 157Gd
as shown in Fig. 21.
Fig. 17. 239Pu isotopic composition versus radius
Fig. 19. 157Gd isotopic composition versus radius
 DEVELOPMENT OF AN MCNP5-ORIGEN2 COUPLING SCHEME FOR …

Fig. 20. Depletion of 239Pu as a function of the radial Fig. 21. Depletion of 157Gd as a function of the
position with burnup change radial position with burnup change

Table V. Error (%) of isotopic composition in cell-24 vs radius compared to BM values; Burnup=40
MWd/kgHM for 235U, 239Pu; Burnup=2 MWd/kgHM for 155Gd, 157Gd

Radius, cm 0.173 0.244 0.299 0.345 0.386

Zone 1 2 3 4 5 average
235
U -2.98 -3.20 -3.37 -3.48 -3.60 -3.30
239
Error Pu -6.41 -6.33 -6.57 -7.03 -5.28 -6.21
(%) 155
Gd 0.14 0.32 1.21 4.00 6.69 1.96
157
Gd 0.03 1.11 5.01 18.72 47.79 4.73

Table V shows the relative deviation The calculation results of MCNP5-

from BM values of the isotopic composition in
each zone of five annulars of equal area. The
„average‟ values are the comparison with BM
values of the isotopic compositions of the entire
fuel volume.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a burnup calculation for the
VVER-1000 LEU benchmark assembly [14]
through an MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling code
has been performed. The coupling code was
built based on the Monte Carlo neutron
transport code MCNP5 and the versatile point
depletion code ORIGEN2. The MCNP5-
ORIGEN2 coupler can process the output files
of MCNP5 and ORIGEN2 and then construct
the input files automatically.
ORIGEN2 coupling scheme were compared
with several other burnup codes and benchmark
mean values from the benchmark document.
The infinite multiplication factor (k∞) and
isotopic compositions of the important isotopes
were compared and analyzed. The deviations
between the obtained results and the BM values
for the k∞ were found within 600 pcm. At the
end of burnup (40 MWd/kgHM) the differences
of isotope compositions were generally within
6.5%. Moreover, the coupling scheme also
reproduced well the isotopic composition
behavior along the radius in the gadolinium
bearing rods. This allowed us to conclude that
the MCNP5-ORIGEN2 coupling scheme
developed in this study can be applied for the
burnup calculations of the VVER-1000 reactors.

28
 NGUYEN HUY HIEP, NGUYEN HUU TIEP, TRAN VIET PHU, NGUYEN TUAN KHAI
However, potential errors can occur
during the burnup calculation because of
presence of the improper isotopic composition
from strong absorbers like 157Gd. Such errors
can be reduced by using smaller time steps or
integrate a predictor-corrector algorithm into
the depletion calculation. Furthermore, all cross
sections of the 1008 isotopes consisting of 129
actinides and 879 fission products should be
updated through burnup time steps in order to
avoid error accumulation. To do this, the cross
section libraries, which are unavailable in
MCNP5, should be created by using NJOY
code [16]. Therefore, the future tasks needed
are to (1) study the “modified predictor-
corrector” method and integrate to the depletion
calculation; (2) update one-group cross section
libraries for more actinides and fission
products; and (3) build up an MCNP5-
ORIGEN2 coupling scheme for burnup
calculation of VVER-1000 cores.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank MSc. Tran Quoc
Duong, Dalat Nuclear Research Institute, for
sharing his experience of using MCNP5 and
ORIGEN2 codes, and PhD. Pham Nhu Viet Ha
for useful comments in improving the quality of
the manuscript. We acknowledge the support
from Ministry of Science and Technology of
Vietnam under grant number
DTCB.13/15/VKHKTHN.
REFERENCES
[1] Keisuke Okumura, Yasunobu Nagaya,
Takamasa Mori, “MVP-BURN: Burn-up
Calculation Code Using a Continuos-energy
Monte Carlo Code MVP”, Japan Atomic
Energy Agency (JAEA), January 2005.
[2] Edward J. Parma, “BURNCAL: A Nuclear
Reactor Burnup Code Using MCNP Tallies”,
Sandia National Laboratories, November 2002.
29
[3] X-5 Monte Carlo Team, “MCNP – A General
N-Particle Transport Code, Version 5”, Los
Alamos National Laboratory, April 2003.
[4] A. G. Croff, “A User‟s Manual for the
ORIGEN2 Computer Code”, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, July 1980.
[5] R.L. Moore, B. G. Schnitzler, C. A. Wemple, R.
S. Babcock, D. E. Wessol, “MOCUP: MCNP-
ORIGEN2 Coupled Utility Program,” INEL-
95/0523, Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory, September 1995.
[6] David I. Poston, Holly R. Trellue, “User‟s
Manual, Version 2.0, for Monteburns, Version
1.0”, LA-UR-99-4999, Los Alamos National
Laboratory, September 1999.
[7] Zhiwen Xu, Pavel Hejzlar, Michael J. Driscoll,
and Mujid S. Kazimi, “An improved MCNP-
ORIGEN Depletion Program (MCODE) and its
Verification for High-burnup Applications”,
PHYSOR, Seoul, Korea, October 2002.
[8] F. Alvarez-Velarde, E. M. Gonzalez-Romero, I.
Merino Rodriguez, “Validation of the Burn-up
code EVOLCODE 2.0 with PWR Experimental
Data and with a Sensitivity/Uncertainty
Analysis”, Annals of Nuclear Energy, June
2014.
[9] Javier Sanz, Oscar Cabellos, Nuria García-
Herranz, “ACAB Inventory Code for Nuclear
Application: User‟s Manual version 2008”,
December 2008.
[10] Meiyin Zheng, Wenxi Tian, Hongyang Wei,
Dalin Zhang, Yingwi Wu, Suizheng Qiu,
Guanghui Su, “Development of an MCNP-
ORIGEN Burn-up Calculation Code System
and its Accuracy Assessment”, Annals of
Nuclear Energy, August 2013.
[11] Luong Ba Vien, Le Vinh Vinh, Huynh Ton
Nghiem, Nguyen Kien Cuong, “Design
Analyses for Full Core Conversion of The
Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor”, Nuclear
Science and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 10-
25, March 2014.
[12] Nguyen Nhi Dien, Luong Ba Vien, Le Vinh
Vinh, Huynh Ton Nghiem, Nguyen Kien
Cuong, “Full Core Conversion and Operational
Experience with LEU Fuel of the DALAT
Nuclear Research Reactor”, RERTR 2014 –
35th International Meeting on Reduced
Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors,
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IAEA Vienna Interational Center, Vienna, [15] Luka Snoj, Matiaz Ravnik, “Calculation of
Austria, October 2014. Power Density with MCNP in TRIGA reactor”,
[13] Nguyen Kien Cuong, Huynh Ton Nghiem, International Conference, Nuclear Energy for
Vuong Huu Tan, “The Development of New Europe 2006, September 2006.
Depletion Program Coupled with Monte Carlo [16] R. E. MacFarlane, A. C. Kahler, “Methods
Computer Code”, The 11th National Conference for Processing ENDF/B-VII with NJOY”,
on Nuclear Science and Technology, Da Nang, Nuclear Data Sheets, October 2010.
Vietnam, August 2015. [17] Go Chiba, Masashi Tsuji, Tadashi
[14] NEA/NSC/DOC 10, “A VVER-1000 LEU Narabayashi, Yasunori Ohoka & Tadashi Ushio,
and MOX Assembly Computational “Important Fission Product Nuclides
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Organization for Economic Co-operation and Chain Construction”, Journal of Nuclear
Development, 2002. Science and Technology, 2015.

30
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 31-39

Research and design of the moving system

for the cobalt-60 industrial irradiator
Le Minh Tuan, Tran Khac An, Cao Van Chung, Phan Phuoc Thang

Research and Development Center for Radiation Technology

(Received 04 November 2016, accepted 25 November 2016)

Abstract: On the way of localization of Cobalt-60 industrial irradiators, Research and Development
Center for Radiation Technology (VINAGAMMA) has successfully designed and manufactured the
first version of Co-60 industrial irradiator, VINAGA1. The second version of Co-60 industrial
irradiator has been studied and designed by VINAGAMMA in the frame of the scientific project No.
ĐTCB.02/15/TTNCTK. The nucleus of a Co-60 industrial irradiator is a mechanical system inside an
irradiation room namely a tote box moving system. This report presents the tote box moving system
designed by VINAGAMMA. The tote box moving system contains 52 tote boxes with the dimensions
of 50 cm (w) × 70 cm (l) × 150 cm (h) that are moving around the source racks in the manner of 4
passes and 2 levels. The irradiator with this tote box moving system has good specifications: The
minimum time of an irradiation cycle is 1h 20 min. and the dose uniformity ratio (DUR) at the product
densities of 0.1 g/cm3 and 0.5 g/cm3 is 1.4 and 1.8, respectively. Radiation energy utilization efficiency
at the product densities of 0.1 g/cm3 and 0.5 g/cm3 is 19.7% and 48.8%, respectively. These
specifications meet the requirements for a multi-purpose Co-60 industrial irradiator and the present
irradiation requirements in Vietnam.
Keywords: Tote box moving system, irradiator, cobalt-60, density, dose uniformity ratio (DUR).

I. INTRODUCTION the first version of multi-purpose Co-60

The first Cobalt-60 semi-industrial
irradiator in Vietnam has been put into
operation in 1991. Nowadays, Vietnam has 9
industrial irradiators: 2 accelerators and 7 Co-
60 irradiators. These Co-60 industrial
irradiators are supplied by Hungary (5), by the
Russia (1) and by China (1) [1]. With the
development of the national economics, the
demand of sterilization of medical products and
food processing is increased. The localization
of Co-60 industrial irradiator is a market
requirement for the development of irradiation
processing technology in the country.
In order to develop the applications of
radiation technology in the national economics,
VINAGAMMA has the orientation of design
and manufacture of multi-purpose cobalt-60
industrial irradiators. In this development way,
VINAGAMMA has designed and constructed
industrial irradiator, VINAGA1. This irradiator
has some advanced features over imported Co-
60 industrial irradiators. VINAGA1 will be
installed at Da Nang irradiation center of
Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (VINATOM).
This paper presents the results of
research and design work to manufacture the
tote box moving system for the Co-60 industrial
irradiator in the frame of the scientific project
No. DTCB.02/15/TTNCTK.
II. OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
A. Objectives
The objectives of the research and design
of the tote box moving system for the multi-
purpose Co-60 industrial irradiator are:

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 RESEARCH AND DESIGN OF THE MOVING SYSTEM FOR …
- The moving system should be able to
work with high source activity, namely more
than 800 kCi in the aspect of food irradiation.
This activity is required for meeting irradiation
demands at present and in future as well as
economical ones.
- The system should have high radiation
energy utilization efficiency, good dose
uniformity in products. For multi-purpose Co-
60 industrial irradiators, values of DUR for
medical products with low density and for food
with high density should be in the acceptable
ranges.
- The system is safe, easy operation and
maintenance and can be upgraded if needed.
B. Research methodology
For research and design of the tote box
moving system the following methods have
been applied:
- By using MCNP code version 4C [2],
the dose distributions inside a tote box have
been determined for various product densities
namely from 0.1 to 0.6 g/cm3. Based on the
calculation results such as DUR, irradiation
efficiency the selection of the tote box sizes has
been made. The selected dimensions of a tote
box could give the irradiator high efficiency
and accepted DUR value.
- By using some calculation tools in the
mechanical design the structure of the tote box
moving system, the structure of a tote box has
been designed. The following mechanical data
for the system should be calculated: Maximum
load capacity of a tote box is 220 kg, the
maximum load capacity of the moving system
is 13,000 kg and static load of bearing 6004zz
is 500kg, etc. The Autodesk Inventor 2014, the
3D CAD software [3] has been used as the main
tool for calculation of some main data in
mechanical design such as deformation, stress,
displacement, safety factor of the frame of the
tote box moving system. By using the software
32
one could made design drawings, part modeling
and assembly modeling as well.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Preliminary design
Upon the knowledge and results gained
from the design and construction of the tote box
moving system VINAGA1 and IAEA
documents for the Co-60 industrial irradiator [1,
4, 5, 6], the tote box moving system for the Co-
60 industrial irradiator could have the following
features of preliminary design:
- Tote boxes of the system will have the
width less than 60 cm. In order to get more
processing rate than the VINAGA1, the height
of a tote box is selected about 3 times of the
source rod length and the box length should be
increased. For that height of a tote box, the
source rack will be about 1.5 m.
- The system will have four passes, two
levels.
- The system contains 52 boxes with the
disposition of 4 boxes at temporary places (at the
border of the system) and 48 boxes in 8 rows.
- The system is suitable for the densities
of medical products with the density range of
0.1 g/cm3 ÷ 0.2 g/cm3 and food with the density
range of 0.5 ÷ 0.6 g/cm3.
- The system can be operated in three
main irradiation modes: Continuous irradiation,
batch irradiation and stationary irradiation.
The continuous mode is often used for
irradiation of a big volume of product with the
same density and used for irradiation of
required low doses like foods. The batch mode
is often used for irradiation of product with the
same density and often used for irradiation of
high doses like medical products. The
stationary irradiation is only used when an
irradiation with long dwell time is interrupted
by some technical reasons.
 LE MINH TUAN, TRAN KHAC AN, CAO VAN CHUNG, PHAN PHUOC THANG

In the continuous mode, the system the last dwell time was not completed due to
receives one new tote box brought by the irradiation interruption.
transport system from the loading-unloading
Tote boxes are brought in or out of the
area and delivers one irradiated tote box which
tote box moving system by a car of the
has been went through 52 positions in the
transport system.
system. In the batch mode, 52 tote boxes in the
system move defined steps and no tote box The principle diagram of the tote box
either goes in or goes out; in the stationary moving system is illustrated in Fig. 1.
mode, 52 boxes stay for compensating time that

Fig. 1: Principle diagram of the tote box moving system

The moving manner of tote boxes can be to prevent a box moving over right in the lift
explained by the lines with arrow in the above C10 when C1 pushes boxes in the first row one
pictures. Cylinder C1, C3, C11, C13 are used step right [7].
for pushing tote boxes in the row 1, row 3 of
In order to increase the processing rate of
the lower level and the row 2, the row 4 of the
the irradiator using the tote box moving system,
upper level one step right; Cylinder C2, C4,
it is predetermined that the height of a tote box
C12, C14 are used for pushing tote boxes in the
is 150 cm with the useful height of 140 cm, the
row 2, row 4 of the lower level and the row 1,
length of a tote box is 70 cm with the useful
the row 3 of the upper level one step left; Two
length of 66 cm and the width of a tote box
lift mechanisms with C10 and C17 are used
should be chosen among three assuming values,
change a box between two levels; C5, C15, C6,
namely 45, 50 and 55 cm with the useful widths
C16 are used to change a box between rows; C8
of 41, 46 and 51 cm, respectively.
is used for unlock a box on the car; C9 is used

33
 RESEARCH AND DESIGN OF THE MOVING SYSTEM FOR …

B. Calculation of physical parameters of the point. Fig. 2 presents the dose calculation points
tote box moving system inside a tote box.
For a multi-purpose Co-60 industrial
irradiator two main physical parameters should
be determined, namely dose uniformity ratio
(DUR) and radiation energy utilization
efficiency (hereinafter called efficiency) for
various densities of product.
These parameters can be calculated if
dose mapping data for various densities of
product are known. The dose mapping data
inside a tote box can be known by experimental
measurement or by theoretical calculation. In
our case the calculation is carried out by using
MCNP code version 4C [2].
Absorbed doses of 63 cells of MCNP
code inside a tote box with different dimensions
and different densities of product have been
calculated. There are three cases of tote box Fig. 2: Dose calculation points inside a tote box
dimensions, namely (45 cm × 70 cm × 150 cm)
(Case 1), (50 cm × 70 cm × 150 cm) (Case 2), The calculated minimum and maximum
(55 cm × 70 cm × 150 cm) (Case 3). The absorbed doses for 6 different densities of
densities of product loaded in tote boxes are products with calculation error about 2% and
0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 g/cm3. for 3 cases of the tote box dimensions are given
in Table I.
Dose calculations are carried out for the
source activity of 800 kCi. It takes 1 hour of
computer running time for dose calculation of a

Table I. Calculation results of minimum and maximum absorbed doses with different densities of product
Density
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
(g/cm3)
Unit: kGy Dmax Dmin Dmax Dmin Dmax Dmin Dmax Dmin Dmax Dmin Dmax Dmin

Case 1 5.53 3.99 4.88 3.38 4.34 2.86 3.90 2.41 3.58 2.09 3.32 1.83
Case 2 5.33 3.82 4.67 3.14 4.15 2.66 3.73 2.23 3.42 1.89 3.16 1.64
Case 3 5.15 3.58 4.49 2.94 3.98 2.42 3.56 2.02 3.27 1.70 3.03 1.45

Table II. The calculation results of DUR values with different densities of product

Density (g/cm3) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Case 1 1.38 1.44 1.52 1.62 1.72 1.81
Case 2 1.40 1.49 1.56 1.67 1.81 1.93
Case 3 1.44 1.52 1.64 1.76 1.92 2.09

34
 LE MINH TUAN, TRAN KHAC AN, CAO VAN CHUNG, PHAN PHUOC THANG

Table III. The calculation results of efficiency values with different densities of product

Density (g/cm3) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Case 1 18.4% 31.1% 39.5% 44.5% 48.1% 50.5%
Case 2 19.7% 32.4% 41.2% 46.1% 48.8% 50.8%
Case 3 20.5% 33.7% 41.6% 46.2% 48.7% 49.9%

The calculation results of DUR and C. Mechanical design

efficiencies (E) are presented in Table II and
The tote box moving system consists of the
Table III.
following parts: structural frame, guiding structure
Based on the calculation results the for box move, lift mechanisms for changing boxes
following conclusions can be drawn: between levels, row-row changing mechanisms for
changing boxes between rows.
- In the central lines of two box sides
faced to the source there are two locations of The tote box and the system are
maximum dose value. Two locations are illustrated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.
about at the distance one fourth of the box
height from the top and the bottom and
symmetrical through the central point in
height of the box.
- The positions of minimum dose value
are often located at two ends of the central
lines of two box sides perpendicular to the
source.
- For a multi-purpose Co-60 industrial
irradiator, the tote box dimensions of 50 cm ×
70 cm × 150 cm is selected upon the
compromise between the DUR and efficiency
values [4].
Fig. 3. A tote box of the moving system

Fig. 4. The tote box moving system

35
 RESEARCH AND DESIGN OF THE MOVING SYSTEM FOR …

A tote box consists of a base, a 12,000 kg (48 × 250 kg) and the total weight of
rectangular frame, box covers and 4 bearings. 4 temporary positions is 1,000 kg (4 × 250 kg).
The box base is made of 304 stainless steel, Therefore, the total load of the tote box moving
rectangular frame is made of box stainless steel system is 13,000 kg.
with the sizes of 50 cm (w) × 70 cm (l) × 150
By using the Stress Analysis function in
cm (h), the box covers are made of aluminum
environment of Inventor software [3] three
plate with the thickness of 2 mm, 4 couples of
main parameters of the tote box moving system
bearing 6004ZZ. The tote box has been
namely stress, displacement and safety factor
designed to carry products with the maximum
have been calculated. The forces applied on the
weight of 220 kg.
frame are F1, F2 and F3 with the values of
The tote box moving system is made of 120,000 N (12,000 kg × 10 m/s2), 5,000 N and
CT3 steel. The structural frame is also made of 5,000 N (2 × 250 kg × 10 m/s2), respectively.
CT3 (σbk = 345 MPa) [8], box steel with a Illustrations of stress and displacement
length of 6 m, a width of 2.692 m and a height calculations are given in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 and
of 3.510 m. The lift mechanisms consist of a the calculation results are given in Table IV.
box container, guiding part for a box and 12 Table IV. Result of stress calculation
bearings 6004ZZ. The row-row changing
Name Steel
mechanisms are located at two outside parts of
the system. Mass density 7.85 g/cm3
General Yield strength 207 MPa
The system contains 48 boxes in 8 rows
Ultimate tensile strength 345 MPa
and 4 boxes at temporary places. The tote box
Young’s modulus 210 GPa
carries products with the maximum weight of
Stress Poisson’s ratio 0.3 ul
220 kg (net weight of a box is 30 kg). The total
weight of 48 boxes with the maximum load is Shear modulus 80.7692 GPa

Fig. 5. Von Mises Stress of the frame

36
 LE MINH TUAN, TRAN KHAC AN, CAO VAN CHUNG, PHAN PHUOC THANG

Fig. 6. Displacement of the frame

Based on the above calculated results, the The specifications of the cylinders used
safety factor can be calculated by the equation in the system are given in Table V and the main
as This result mechanical data of the system are given in
Table VI.
comfirms the designed tote box moving system
meets the required safety factor according to
standard safety factor of 1.5 [8].
Table V. Specifications of cylinders used in the tote box moving system
No. Cylinder name Quantity Specifications
167/Ø100/715
1 C1 1
Cylinder with magnetic piston
C2, C3, C4 167/Ø100/810
2 7
C11, C12, C13, C14 Cylinder with magnetic piston
167/Ø100/110
3 C9 1
Cylinder with magnetic piston
167/Ø50/600
4 C5, C15 2
Cylinder with magnetic piston
167/ Ø50/680
5 C6, C16 2
Cylinder with magnetic piston
167/Ø125/1510
6 C10, C17 2
Cylinder with magnetic piston

37
 RESEARCH AND DESIGN OF THE MOVING SYSTEM FOR …

167/Ø50/100
7 C7 2
Cylinder with magnetic piston
2700-5 Ø40/25
8 C8 2
Cylinder with magnetic piston

Table VI. Main mechanical data of the tote box moving system

Specifications Weight /unit Total weight

No. Unit Qty.
(mm) (kg) (kg)

Box steel 5 mm
1 piece 28 79.1 2,215
60 (w) × 120 (h) × 6,000 (l)
Box steel 3 mm
2 piece 8 26.2 210
50 (w) × 50 (h) × 6,000 (l)
Box steel 3 mm
3 piece 4 20.6 82
40 (w) × 40 (h) × 6,000 (l)
Box steel 2 mm
4 piece 8 8.5 68
25 (w) × 25 (h) × 6,000 (l)
Box steel 2 mm
5 piece 4 21.7 87
40 (w) × 80 (h) × 6,000 (l)
U steel 3 mm
6 piece 26 14.13 367
25 (h) × 50 (w) × 25 (h) × 6,000 (l)
U steel 3 mm
7 piece 8 7.07 57
25 (h) × 50 (w) x 25 (h) × 3,000 (l)
U steel 3 mm
8 piece 4 14.13 57
40 (h) × 80 (w) × 40 (h) × 3,000 (l)
9 Accessories part set 1 200
Total 3,342

The tote box moving system with 52 tote products and food irradiation. This tote box
boxes having dimensions of 50 cm × 70 cm × moving system version is timely for the present
150 cm has been designed for the multi-purpose irradiation demands. Table VII presents the
Co-60 industrial irradiator. Its specifications are parameters of the tote box moving system.
suitable for both sterilization of medical
Table VII. Parameters of the tote box moving system
No. Parameters Value
1 Tote box quantity 52
2 Tote box sizes 50 cm × 70 cm × 150 cm
3 Useful box sizes 46 cm × 66 cm × 140 cm
4 DUR at the densities of
- 0.1 g/cm3 1.4
- 0.5 g/cm3 1.8
5 Radiation energy utilization efficiency at the density of
- 0.1 g/cm3 19.7%
- 0.5 g/cm3 48.8%

38
 LE MINH TUAN, TRAN KHAC AN, CAO VAN CHUNG, PHAN PHUOC THANG

6 Minimum time of an irradiation cycle, min. 80

7 Maximum Co-60 activity could be used for food 1,000
irradiation with the minimum absorbed dose of 3.2kGy,
kCi
8 Maximum throughput of food irradiation with the density 0.83
of 0.5 g/cm3 and the required minimum absorbed dose of
3.2 kGy, tons.(h.100 kCi)-1

IV. CONCLUSIONS [2] J.F. Briesmeister, MCNP- A General Monte

The second version of tote box moving
system for the Co-60 industrial irradiator has been
designed. The tote box moving systems has high
performances for multi-purpose utilization
namely for food irradiation and radiation
sterilization of medical products in comparison
with VINAGA1. In addition, the second version
of tote box moving systems favorably meets the
requirements for a multi-purpose Co-60 industrial
irradiator and the present irradiation requirements
in Vietnam. Based on pre-estimated price, the
designed tote box moving system was lower price
compared to imported one with the equivalent
irradiation capacity.
REFERENCES
[1] Le Minh Tuan, et al, Summary report of the
scientific project of Ministry of Industry and
Trade, “Research, design and pilot manufacture
of the moving system for a Co-60 industrial
irradiator”, Code 04/HĐ-ĐT 2010, 2013.
Carlo N-Particle Transport Code, LA 1265-M,
Version 4C Los Alamos National Laboratory,
Los Alamos, 2000.
[3] Nguyen Huu Loc, Manual of Autodesk
Inventor, Ho Chi Minh City Publisher, 2008.
[4] Radiation safety of Gamma and Electron
Irradiation facilities, IAEA, Safety series No.
107, 1992.
[5] Safe design and use of Panoramic, wet source
storage gamma irradiators (Category IV),
American National Standard N43.10, July
1984.
[6] Gamma Irradiators for Radiation Processing,
IAEA, Vienna, Austria, 2005.
[7] Operation and Maintenance Manual for SVST-
Co60/B type irradiator, Institute of Isotopes Co.
Ltd., 2nd Edition, Vol. 1, 2, 3, May 1999.
[8] Nguyen Thi Yen, Lectures on mechanical
materials, Hanoi Publisher, 2005.

39
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 40-47

UV light induced DNA damages and the radiation protection

effects of Lingzi mushrom extract
Vo Thi Thuong Lan1, Dinh Ba Tuan1, Ta Bich Thuan1, Tran Bang Diep2, Tran Minh Quynh2*
1
Hanoi University of Sciences, Vietnam Natural University, 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Ha Noi
2
Hanoi Irradiation Center, Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, km12, Road 32, Minh Khai, Tu Liem, Hanoi
*Email: tmqthuquynh@yahoo.com
(Received 26 July 2016, accepted 20 September 2016)

Abstract: UV light has strongly influenced on the growth of E. coli as well as caused DNA damages.
Configurations of both genomic DNA and pUC 19 plasmids extracted from E. coli were significantly
changed by the exposure to UV light of 254 nm and DLT, an extract of Ganoderma lucidum Lingzi
mushroom. The results also revealed the radio-protective effects of DLT to UV radiation. By adding
2% DLT to its culturing suspension, the growth of E. coli was significantly decreased, whereas a low
DLT amount of about 0.5% slightly improved its growth, indicated that the DLT extract can be used
as a promising protective substance against UV radiation. At the molecular level, the radio-protective
effects of DLT were observed for both UV treated DNA and protein. Thus, DLT can protect DNA in
vivo, but not in vitro. This effect was also observed for Taq polymerase, suggested that the radio-
protection effect of DLT may due to it accelerated the degradation of radicals or species that produced
in the suspensions during UV exposure.
Keywords: UV radiation, DNA damage, plant extract, radio-protection.

I. INTRODUCTION mutations can also lead to serious diseases, and

even cause cancers [3].
UV radiation (UVR) can attack various
targets in the cell. It produces unexpected
photochemical reactions that are severely
damaging for the DNA, proteins and other bio-
macromolecules, resulting in cellular
dysfunction or even death [1]. It can also
produce free radicals, which act as mutagen or
carcinogenic agents. Fortunately, various living
organisms and even the cells possess their own
Fig. 1. Spatial configuration of pUC19 DNA
defense systems against radiation that can fix
plasmids: supercoil (SX), circular (V) and linear (T)
those lesions. In addition, there are many natural DNA produced by UV radiation as mentioned in the
products with protective properties that can be previous study [4]
used as the radio-protectors.
Analysis of UVR induced DNA
Within a DNA molecule, the pyrimidine damages at the molecular level has been
nucleotides (thymine and cytosine) can link proved as an important method to determine
together in order to form nucleotide complexes the relationship between UV radiation doses
(dimers) by the exposure to UVR. These and lesions including the changes in the DNA
changes prevent the normal transcription and spatial configuration (Figure 1), as well as the
replication of the DNA. The UVR induced damages (single strand, double strand breaks

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 VO THI THUONG LAN et al.
and dimerization) [5]. Investigation of the
radiation damages at the molecular level for
specific cells and tissues at various
development and differentiation stages is
essensial to determine the proper radiation dose
in mutation breeding. Recently, this method
has been applied to create and select new
plants (cereals, legumes, fruits and flowers)
with the desired traits in Vietnam [6-8].
It has been found that many natural
products and compounds reveal their potential
protective effects not only to radiation induced
diseases, but also to several types of cancers by
shielding genetic materials, activating cellular
repair mechanisms or scavenging free radicals
that are strong oxidants for the DNA, proteins
and other biological molecules [9, 10].
In our previous study, the protective
effect of the extract from Ganoderma lucidum
mushroom against UVR has been proved by
the reduction of the damages for the DNA
exposure to UV [4]. The study on the Vietnam
ginseng, Tran et al. found that saponin
extracted from the Vietnamese ginseng can
protect the liver cells against damages [11].
The extracts of red ginseng can also
improve the anti-tumor activity of 5-
fluorouracil, a popular anti-cancer drug [12].
Recently, the radio-protective effects of the
extract of Crinium latifolium leave have been
confirmed, this extract inhibited proliferation
of tumor cells [13]. It is obviously that many
plant extracts have anti-oxidant properties,
which are able to scavenge several free radicals
and species that may be associated to UV-
oxidative stress [9]. The understanding of their
protection mechanisms is very useful for
formulating new safety and effective radio-
protective drugs.
In this study, the extract (abbreviated as
DLT) obtained from Ganoderma lucidum
Lingzhi mushroom by normal extraction with
41
hot water followed by precipitation with
ethanol was kindly supplied by Hanoi
University of Pharmacy. Its influences on the
growth of E. coli, as well as radiation
protective effects against UV radiation on the
DNA and protein were investigated.
II. EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
E. coli carrying pUC19 recombinant
vectors, as well as DLT extract from
Ganoderma lucidum mushroom was prepared
by the Laboratory for Medical Biology,
Faculty of Biology, VNU University of
Sciences, Hanoi.
E. coli was cultured in Luria - Bertani
(LB) liquid medium, supplemented with or
without DLT as described in the previous
study, until the optical density at 600 nm
reached 0.4
Plasmid and genomic DNAs were
isolated by using QIA prep Spin Miniprep and
WizardSV Genomic DNA Purification,
respectively. EcoRI was purchased from New
England BioLab (NEB).
Cell density and DNA concentration
measurements
The same volume of E. coli was
transferred and cultured in the LB liquid medium
with or without supplement of DLT extract to
determine the effect of DLT on bacteria growth.
The cell density of E. coli suspension was
determined by the interval measurement of its
optical density at 600 nm (OD600). One ml of cell
suspension was taken and its OD600 was
measured by a UV-vis spectrophotometer (UV-
2450, Shimadzu, Japan).
The optical density of DNA solution was
measured at 260 nm (OD260), and the
concentrations of both genomic and plasmid
DNAs were calculated as follows:
 UV LIGHT INDUCED DNA DAMAGES AND THE RADIATION PROTECTION EFFECTS OF …

[DNA] = OD260 × n × 50 (g/ml) (1) Aqueous solutions of the DNA in distilled water
and DLT were also exposed to UV for
where OD260 = 1 corresponding to the DNA
analyzing its UV induced damages and the
amount of 50 g/ml in a test sample, and n is
protective effects of DLT for the DNA.
dilution factor.
Estimation of DNA damage
UV radiation treatment
The electrophoresis results have been
The genomic DNA is very sensitive to
used to analyze the size of the DNA fragments
UV light in replication during the logarithmic
and the DNA damages as mentioned in our
phase in the bacteria growth, where the OD600 is
previous study [4]. Briefly, the agarose gel
about 0.3 to 0.6 [14]. E. coli cultured in the LB
electrophoresis was prepared; then, the DNA
with or without the supplement of DLT (0.5%)
samples were loaded in the agarose wells. The
were transferred to a petri dish and then the dish
DNA fragments are visualized by staining with
was exposed to UV radiation at 254 nm using
ethidium bromide, and they are taken by a
BIO-LINK crosslinker (BLX 254, USA) within
specific camera. Be aware that the DNA will
different periods to receive the corresponding
diffuse within the gel over time, and that the
doses of 0.5; 2.5; and 5 J/cm2. The study on the
photography should be taken just after the
UV effect to the DNA in vitro, pUC19 plasmids
cessation of electrophoresis [15].
were isolated, purified and used as targets.
Table I. Primer sequences used for RAPD-PCR

Primer Sequences (5’ - 3’) Primer Sequence (5’ - 3’)

OPL1 AAGAGCCCGT AD2 GCAAGTAGCT
OPL12 GGGCGGTACT AD3 TCACGATGCA
OPK19 CACAGGCGGA B1 CCCAGCTGTG
OLG2 GGACCACTAC B21 AAGCCTCGTC
S216 TTAGCAATTG OPA10 GTGATCGCAG
S256 ATCCGCGTGT OP15 CCTGGGTTCC
S285 TGGACACTGA OPK8 GCCAACGAGA

Unlike the traditional PCR, the RAPD- Enzyme activity measurement

PCR requires random primers, but not any
The protease activity is its capacity to
specific DNA sequences [5]. By the RAPD-
break peptide bonds. In this experiment, the
PCR method, the genetic similarity of the
protease activity was determined as its
genome can be estimated from the patterns of
casein digestion and the liberation of amino
DNA segments, which were amplified with the
acids and soluble peptide fragments. This
short primers (10 nucleotides) using Taq
was measured by the size of the hydrolysis
polymerase. In the present experiment, the
zone produced by protease on the casein
primers amplified the DNA templates from
agar plate [16].
unirradiated and UV irradiated bacteria in the
RAPD-PCR to estimate DNA damages, are
listed in Table I.

42
 VO THI THUONG LAN et al.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of DLT on the growth of E. coli
Fig. 2 Growth of E. coli in the media supplemented
with DLT was determined by the OD600
E. coli was cultured in the LB medium
supplemented with various concentrations of
DLT and the optical density of cultural
solution was measured at the wavelength of
600 nm (OD600) as a function of time intervals
(see Fig. 2). At low DLT concentration of
0.5%, the bacteria growth rate was
significantly increased with a higher value of
OD600, especially for culturing time more than
90 minutes.
However, its growth was inhibited by
the presence of DLT at higher concentrations.
The most obvious reduction was observed for
E. coli culturing in the LB medium containing
2% DLT. This may be due to the effects of
different bioactive substances which are
present in DLT extract and their high
concentration may inhibit the bacteria growth.
Therefore, the DLT concentration of 0.5% was
selected to investigate its radio-protective
effects on UV exposed DNA.
Effect of DLT on growth and DNA demages
of the UV irradiated E. coli
It is clear that UVR has much influenced
the bacteria growth. Number of the irradiated
cells seems to be reduced and leveled off after
90 minutes of culturing, while this value
rapidly increased for the unirradiated ones. By
adding DLT, the irradiated cell density was
increased after 60 minutes and their OD600
value was nearly doubled after 90 minutes. The
results also again indicated that DLT did not
affect to the growth of unirradiated bacteria,
though the growth of the UV exposed bacteria
was recovered by adding this DLT (see Fig. 3).
However, its adding points (initial and just
before UV radiation) seem not to influence the
growth of the irradiated bacteria, namely DLT
did not protect the bacteria with the absorption
of UV energy, but the radio-protective effects
may be obtained by its stimulation for the
repair mechanism in the cell or the degradation
of radicals or species produced by UVR.

Fig. 3 The effect of 0.5% DLT on the recovery of the UV exposed E. coli. Bacteria at OD600 = 0.4 was
exposed to the UV of 0.5 J/cm2.
(): E. coli incubated in the LB media as the negative control; (): DLT was added in the medium before culturing as
the positive control; (): UV exposed bacteria without DLT; (): DLT was added immediately before and () at the
beginning of the incubation and exposed to UVR when the OD reached 0.4. Error bars show SD

43
 UV LIGHT INDUCED DNA DAMAGES AND THE RADIATION PROTECTION EFFECTS OF …

Fig. 4 Electrophoresis results of pUC19 plasmid DNA extracted from E. coli just after exposure to UV (-):
culture and UV treated in LB. DLT: cultured and UV treated in LB supplemented with 0.5% DLT; M -
marker 1kb. (Red arrow: DNA band representative for supercoil forms)

The plasmid DNA isolated from bacteria
is mainly in supercoil with small amount of
circular forms. By UV treatment, the number of
the circular DNA increased due to increasing of
the single stranded breaks, and the double
stranded breaks leading to the formation of
linear DNA fragments. These DNA
configurations can be recognized and
discriminated by electrophoresis (see Fig. 4).
Therefore, changes in the plasmid DNA
configuration reveal the DNA damages induced
by UV treatment. The plasmid DNAs could be
extracted from UV exposed bacteria, or from the
bacteria, and subsequently exposed to UV.
On the other hand, the alteration of the
genomic DNA caused by UV irradiation was
evaluated by the RAPD-PCR using random
primers. If there are differences in the genomic
DNA, namely chromosomal alteration has
occurred in the template DNA at the site that was
previously complementary to the primer, a PCR
product will not be produced, resulting in a
different pattern of the amplified DNA fragments
on the gel. Therefore, different sizes in the DNA
fragments yielded in RAPD-PCR reveal the
changes in the bacterial DNA.
The pUC19 plasmid was also isolated
from bacteria cultured in the LB medium with
or without 0.5 % DLT and reached OD600 of
0.4. The same concentration of pUC19 that was
diluted in either water (H2O) or 0.5% DLT was
irradiated by various doses of UVR. The
plasmid digested by the EcoRI restriction
enzyme to obtain the linear form was used as
the control. There are significant differences
between the DNA irradiated in pure water and
DLT solution as shown in Fig. 5. The changes
from supercoil to circular forms were observed
in DLT diluted pUC19. Both of these forms of
pUC19 diluted in H2O were decreased,
suggesting that the DNA was fragmented more
than that diluted in DLT. Thus, DLT did protect
DNA in vitro against UV as it the shows radio-
protective effect on the DNA in vivo.
Fig. 5 Electrophoresis results of pUC 19 DNA
plasmids dispensed in pure water (H2O) and 0.5%
DLT aqueous (DLT) treated by UV of dose from 1
to 4 J/cm2. P and Pcut: PUC19 uncut and cut by
EcoRI. M: DNA ladder 1 kb

44
 VO THI THUONG LAN et al.

Effect of DLT on the activity of UV treated
enzymes
To study the UV protective effect of
DLT on protein, commercial Taq polymerase
was exposed to UVR in the presence or
absence of DLT, and Taq polymerase
activity was investigated by amount of PCR
products.

Fig. 6. Electrophoresis results of RAPD-PCR products obtained with random primers. DNA patterns
amplified from 20 ng of the genomic DNA that was isolated either from non-irradiated E. coli cultured
without (LB) and with 0.5 % DLT (DLT) or from 0.5 mJ/cm 2 of irradiated E. coli cultured with DLT
(DLT+UV) and without DLT (UV). M: DNA ladder 1kb

After UV treatment in 1XTaq buffer
supplemented with or without 0.25 % DLT,
Taq polymerase was amplified using 1 ng of
the DNA plasmid as the template.
Electrophoresis image of the PCR products
was presented in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the
DNA band of the sample irradiated in the Taq
buffer solution become smaller and disappear
by increasing of the UV dose, but the band still
observed for one irradiated in buffer solution
supplemented with DLT. These results proved
that DLT has a protective effect for Taq
polymerase and this property may be due to the
degradation of free radicals and DLT.

Fig. 7 PCR products amplified from 1 ng DNA plasmid by using Taq polymerase that was dispensed in Taq
buffer without (B) or with 0.25 % DLT (B+DLT) and irradiated by UVR.
M: DNA ladder 1 kb

45
 UV LIGHT INDUCED DNA DAMAGES AND THE RADIATION PROTECTION EFFECTS OF …
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The genomic DNA and pUC19 plasmid
of E. coli were injured by UV exposure at
some extent. The plant extract, DLT, does not
affect to the growth of E. coli. In contrast, DLT
shows positive effects against UV radiation.
Bacterial growth was recovered by adding of
0.5% DLT to the cell suspension, and there are
no differences in the recovery capacity among
the bacteria that were cultured in the LB
medium containing DLT and in LB medium,
which added DLT just before UV treatment.
These radio-protective effects of DLT were
also recognized for the DNA and protein. DLT
revealed its protective effect to the DNA in
vivo and in vitro. The radio-protective effect of
DLT was also observed for Taq polymerase.
Thus, the plant extract DLT can be used as the
radio-protector for the DNA and protein, and
its protective effect may be due to its
scavenging of radicals and species which are
produced during UV exposure.
REFERENCES
[1]. RP. Rastogi, A. Kumar, MB. Tyagi, RP. Sinha.
Molecular Mechanisms of Ultraviolet
Radiation-Induced DNA damage and repair,
Journal of Nucleic Acids, 10, 1-21, 2010.
[2]. PM. Girard, S. Francesconi, M. Pozzebon, D.
Graindorge, P. Rochette, R. Drouin, E. Sage.
UVA-induced damage to DNA and proteins:
direct versus indirect photochemical processes,
Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 261,
2011.
[3]. GP. Pfeifer, YH. You, A. Besaratinia.
Mutations induced by ultraviolet light, Mutant
Res, 571, 19-31, 2005.
[4]. DH. Van, TM. Quynh, NT. Thom, DB. Tuan,
TT. Anh, NT. Ngan, TB. Thuan, VTT. Lan.
Study on DNA damages induced by UV
radiation, Nuclear Science and Technology, 5,
16-22, 2015.
46
[5]. RP. Sinha, DP. Häder. UV-induced DNA
damage and repair: a review, Photochem.
Photobiol. Sci, 1, 225-36, 2002.
[6]. LD. Thao, NV. Dung, NT. Tham. Study on
chrysanthemum breeding by gamma (Co-60)
irradiation on callus of 4 exotic varieties,
Journal of Agricultural Technology, 11(8),
1813-1822, 2015.
[7]. VTM. Tuyen, NT. Hong, PQ. My, NT. Hue,
LH. Ham. Application of gamma rays
irradiation and marker assisted selection for
improving of bacterial leaf blight resistant rice
variety BT62.1, Journal of Agricultural
Technology, 11(8), 2441-2449, 2015.
[8]. PTA. Duong, VTT. Lan. Evaluating genetic
polymorphism of some plant species collected
from Ma Da area and Cat Tien National Park
by using RAPD markers, VNU Journal of
Science, Natural Sciences and Technology, 26
(1S), 8-12, 2010.
[9]. CW. Choi, SC. Kim, SS. Hwang, BK. Choi,
HJ. Ahn, MY. Lee, SH. Park, SK. Kim.
Antioxidant activity and free radical
scavenging capacity between Korean
medicinal plants and flavonoids by assay-
guided comparison, Plant Science, 163, 1161-
1168, 2002.
[10]. AB. Fishbein et al. Asian ginseng enhances the
anti-proliferative effect of 5-fluorouracil on
human colorectal cancer: comparison between
white and red ginseng, Archives of Pharmacal
Research, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 505–513, 2009.
[11]. LQ. Tran, I. Adnyana, Y. Tezuka, T. Nagaoka,
Q. Tran, S. Kadota. Triterpene saponins from
Vietnamese ginseng (Panax vietnamensis) and
their hepatocytoprotective activity, J. Nat.
Prod., 64, 456–461, 2001.
[12]. KC. Kim, IG. Kim. Ganoderma lucidum
extract protects DNA from strand breakage
caused by hydroxyl radical and UV irradiation,
International Journal of Molecular Medicine,
4, 273-80, 1999.
[13]. M. Jenny, A. Wondrak, E. Zvetkova, NTN.
Tram, PT. Phi Phi, H. Schennach, Z. Culig, F.
Ueberall, D. Fuchs. Crinum Latifolium Leave
Extracts Suppress Immune Activation
Cascades in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear
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Cells and Proliferation of Prostate Tumor
Cells, Sci. Pharm., 79(2), 323–335, 2011.
[14]. JL. Zimmer, RM. Slawson. Potential repair of
Escherichia coli DNA following exposure to
UV radiation from both medium- and low-
pressure UV sources used in drinking water
treatment, Appl Environ Microbiol, 68, 3293–
99, 2002.
[15]. J. Sambrook, DW. Russell, Alkaline Agarose
Gel Electrophoresis, Molecular Cloning: A
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Laboratory Manual, Third Edition, 5.36-5.38,
p. 1-3, 2006.
[16]. NQ. Uyen, NX. Truong, PT. Ha, NHM.
Quyen. Study some properties and the use of
mutagen NTG to enhance the proteolytic
activity of extracellular protease of Bacillus
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University, Hanoi, 26 (2), 121-128, 2010.
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 48-53

The effect of gamma-irradiation on graphene oxide in a

monoglyceride/ethanol solution
Luu Anh Tuyen1, Ha Thuc Huy2, Nguyen Thanh Duoc3,
Doan Binh3, Pham Thi Thu Hong3*

1
Center for Nuclear Techniques, 217 Nguyen Trai Street, HCM. City, Vietnam
2
University of Science – Ho Chi Minh City, 227 Nguyen Van Cu Street, HCM. City, Vietnam
3
Research and Development Center for Radiation Technology,
202A street 11, Linh Xuan ward, Thu Duc district, HCM. City, Vietnam
*Email: hongphamkado@gmail.com
(Received 20 May 2016, accepted 28 August 2016)

Abstract: Gamma-irradiation effects on graphene oxide (GO) in a monoglyceride/ethanol

(MG/EtOH) solution was investigated. GO was dispersed in MG/EtOH solution (GOM) with the GO:
MG ratio of 1:10 (w/w). The prepared GOM was irradiated by -ray under nitrogen atmosphere in a
range of absorbed dose from 0 to 50 kGy. The characteristics and morphology of reduced GOM were
analyzed by Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR)
spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The results
confirmed that the structure of reduced graphene oxide in monoglyceride solution was changed and
exfoliated completely after -ray irradiation at absorbed dose 50 kGy compared with non-irradiation
sample.

Keywords: reduction, monoglyceride, graphene oxide,  -ray.

I. INTRODUCTION methods have also been used to reduce

Graphene is a two-dimensional
crystalline material, discovered by two
scientists Novoselov and Geim in 2004 [1].
The structure of graphene is a flat plate with a
thickness of one atom of carbon atoms
connected by the Sp2 bonds forming a
hexagonal lattice, due to its interesting
properties including excellent thermal
conductivity, large theoretical specific surface
area, high electron mobility, good optical
transmittance, very thin, and harder than
diamonds [1,2]. Until now, graphene has been
studied for applications in solar cells,
electronic or optical devices, sensors, energy
storage and nanocomposite [3-6]. In recent
years, in addition to the chemical methods used
to produce graphene from graphite through an
intermediary graphene oxide [7], the physical
graphene oxide to graphene such as thermal
reaction, ultrasonic irradiation, gamma ray
and/or electron beam irradiation because of
their several advantages, including not using
reducing agents, the product can be produced a
large amount, and being environmentally-
friendly one [8-15]. Therefore, -ray and/or
electron beam irradiation–induced reduction of
GO in an ethanol/water and ethylenediamine
solution has been reported [11,12].
GO is synthesized from the oxidation of
graphite so the GO structure contains
polarizing function groups (hydroxyl, carboxyl,
epoxide) [16].
In this paper, the effects of -ray
irradiation on graphene oxide in a
monoglyceride/ethanol solution (GOM) were
studied. A monoglyceride (MG) is a fatty

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 PHAM THI THU HONG et al.
ester. Its chemical structure includes two
functional groups of hydroxyl and alkyl. So,
MG has self-asssembly ability when it
contacted with the polarized surface. When
GO modified with monoglyceride,
monoglyceride could be self - assembly well
between the cavity of GO structure and
expanded the cavities or exfoliated single-
layer graphite oxide by the hydrogen bond
formation with polarizing functional groups
on the surface of GO. After creating
monolayer modified GO, -ray irradiation –
induced reduction of method is used to restore
the aromatic skeletons (Sp2 bonds) of mono-
layer graphite and/or the preeminent
properties of the pristine Graphite.
II. EXPERIMENTAL
Chemicals and materials
Graphite flake (purity 99.9%) was
purchased from SEC Carbon, Japan.
Monoglyceride with Mw = 356.54 g/M (MG)
was supplied by Kamdhenu Foods Ltd., Delhi,
India. Ethanol (99.5 wt.%) (EtOH) was
provided by Chemical and scientific
technology JSC, Hochiminh City Branch,
Vietnam. Sulfuric acid (H2SO4), hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2), potassium permanganate
(KMnO4), sodium nitrate (NaNO3),
hydrochloric acid (HCl), acetone were obtained
from commercial sources. All chemicals were
of reagent grade and used without further
purification. Distilled water was used in all
experiments. A commercial alpha-cellulose
membrane with 8-12 m pore-size was used
for filtration.
Synthesis of Graphite oxide (GO)
The Hummers method was used to
synthesize GO from a graphite powder [16].
Accordingly, 10 g graphite, 5 g NaNO3, and
240 ml H2SO4 (98 wt.%) were placed in 2,500
ml four-neck flask. The mixture was stirred in
49
an ice bath at 0oC. Then 38 g KMnO4 was
added slowly. After 30 min, the temperature of
the system was raised to 35 oC and the mixture
was continuously stirred in 2 hours for graphite
oxidation. Next step, the suspension was
diluted slowly by 460 ml of distilled water.
The system was raised to 98 oC and stirred for
15 min. Then, the suspension continues to be
diluted with 1,400 ml distilled water and to
lower temperature of reaction system to 50 oC.
To remove residual KMnO4 and other
impurities, 500 ml H2O2 (30 wt.%) was added
to the mixture. After completion of the
reaction, the suspension became bright yellow
in color. The prepared suspension was
centrifuged, washed with HCl (5 wt. %)
solution to remove all residual ions of SO4-2.
After that, hydrochloride acid and other
impurities in GO suspension were removed by
acetone solvent. Finally, the repaired
suspension of GO was dried at 60 oC in
vacuum and ground into fine powder.
Preparation of GOM and iGOM
GO suspension in a MG/EtOH blend
solution (GOM) was prepared by adding an
amount of 0.01 g GO, 0.1 g MG into 10 ml
ethanol/distilled water solution (25 v/v %)
and dispersing under ultrasonic for 1 hour.
After deoxygenated by nitrogen bubbling for
10 min, the prepared suspension is sealed
and irradiated at a room temperature by  -
ray. The total absorbed doses were ranged
from 0 to 50 kGy at a dose rate of 1.0 kGy/h.
Afterward, irradiated GOM (iGOM) was
obtained by filtration and washed with
distilled water several times and dried an
oven at 70 oC.
Characterization methods
UV-vis absorption spectra were recorded
on a UV-vis spectrophotometer (JASCO V630,
Japan) within the wavelength region of 200-
800 nm. Distilled water was used as a solvent.
 THE EFFECT OF GAMMA-IRRADIATION ON GRAPHENE OXIDE IN …
FT-IR spectra were colleted by a FTIR
spectrophotometer (8400S, Shimadzu, Japan)
using KBr pellets on the transmission module
at 4 cm-1 resolution and for 20 scans.
The X-ray diffraction (XRD) was carried
out using X Pert‟ Pro, Panalytical model at a
scanning rate of 0.04o/s in a wide angle range
(2 = 0-60o) with monochromatized Cu K
radiation (= 1.5406Å).
The Transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) measurements of all the samples were
carried out in the high resolution scanning
electron micro-scope JEM 1010, JEOL in a
transmission mode
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Gamma irradiation of GOM
Fig. 1 shows the images of the GO
dispersion in MG/EtOH mixture solution and
the irradiated dispersion at 50 kGy with a
dose rate of 1.0 kGy/h. Evidently, the brown
color of initial GO dispersion changed in
black after gamma irradiation.
(a) (b)
Fig.1. Photographs of non-irradiated GOM
dispersion (a), and GOM dispersion irradiated at
50 kGy (b).
UV-Vis spectra
The -ray irradiation–induced
reduction of GO in MG/EtOH mixture
solution was studied by UV-vis as presented
in Fig. 2, the UV-Vis spectra of iGOM-
23.5kGy was appeared two absorption peak
50
at 242 and 264 nm, and the absorption peak
of iGOM-50 kGy was shifted toward a longer
wavelength at 264 nm in comparison to that
the control GOM (0 kGy) at 240 nm (*
transition of aromatic C–C bonds) and at 300
nm (n* transition of C=O bonds)
[13,17,18]. The overall results were
demonstrated that GO was reduced in
MG/EtOH solution by -ray and GO was
reduced completely at an absorbed dose of
50 kGy.
FT-IR analysis
FT-IR spectroscopy was used to
characterize the functional groups attached to
MG, non-irradiated GOM and irradiated GOM
as shown in Fig. 3, the oxygen containing
functionalities at 3315 (hydroxyl, -OH), 1731
(carboxyl, C=O), 1392 and 1049 cm-1 (epoxide,
C–O) were greatly reduced with an increase in
the absorbed dose. In comparison to the FT-IR
spectra of MG and GOM, the FT-IR spectrum
of iGOM-50 kGy was appeared a new peak at
1575 cm-1 attributed to the stretching vibration
bands C=C. It was suggested that the
restoration of aromatic skeletons (Sp2 bonds)
[12,15] on the mono-layer graphite was
occurred in the sample of iGOM-50 kGy,
which correspond to the results of the UV-Vis
spectra analysis.
XRD study
The XRD patterns for graphite, GO,
non-irradiated and irradiated GOM samples are
described in Fig. 4. In case of pristine graphite,
a sharp diffraction peak was observed at 2 =
26.49o (d-spacing = 3.36 Å) corresponding to
the (002) plane of graphite. GO has damaged
crystalline structure with a broad diffraction
peak was observed at 2 = 10.87o (d-spacing =
8.13 Å) indicating introduction of hydrophilic
functional groups (-OH, -COOH, epoxide) to
carbon layers.
 PHAM THI THU HONG et al.

Fig. 2. UV-Vis spectra of non-irradiated GOM (a), GOM irradiated at 23.5 kGy (b) and 50 kGy (c).

Fig. 3. FT-IR spectra of MG (a), non-irradiated GOM (b), GOM irradiated at 23.5 kGy (c) and 50 kGy (d).

For iGOM-50 kGy sample (Fig. 4d), a
new broaden diffraction peak was appeared at
2 = 21.52o (d-spacing = 4.12 Å) instead of the
peak at around 10.87o of GO and GOM (0
kGy) suggesting the efficient reduction and
exfoliation [11,15] of GO by -gamma
irradiation in a MG/EtOH solution.
TEM analysis
Fig. 5 presents TEM images of non-
irradiated GOM and GOM irradiated at 50
kGy. The non-irradiated GOM sheets are not
perfectly flat. Dark areas in Fig. 5a indicate the
thick stacking nanostructure of several
graphene oxide and/or graphene layers in
MG/EtOH solution.
After –ray irradiation, the image of
iGOM-50 kGy (Fig. 5b) is observed on highly
exfoliated graphite. The higher transparency
areas indicate much thinner sheets of a few
layers stacked attributed to reduced graphene
oxide due to from stacking nanostructure
exfoliation [15,18].

51
 THE EFFECT OF GAMMA-IRRADIATION ON GRAPHENE OXIDE IN …

Fig. 4. XRD pattern of Graphite, GO (a), non-irradiated GOM (b), GOM irradiated at 23.5 kGy (c)
and 50 kGy (d).

a b

Fig. 5. TEM images of non-irradiated GOM (a) and iGOM-50 kGy (b)

III. CONCLUSIONS ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

GO was successfully reduced in a The authors thank University of

monoglyceride/ethanol solution by gamma
irradiation under nitrogen gas. The UV-vis,
FT-IR, XRD and TEM results confirmed that
GOM can be simply and quickly reduced by 
–ray irradiation, and the resulting iGOM
exhibited dose-dependent manner. This method
is a promising way for the massive production
of graphene from GO with a support of the
self-assembly agent as MG.
Science – Ho Chi Minh City, Center for
Nuclear Techniques, HCM City for GO
preparation and XRD measurement. We are
also thankful to Research and Development
Center for Radiation Technology, HCM City
for γ–irradiation and FT-IR, UV-Vis
measurement.

52
 PHAM THI THU HONG et al.

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83, 2016. induced from electron-beam irradiated
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[4]. L. Feng et al., “Graphene in biomedicine: Chemistry, 22, 7775–7781, 2012.
opportunities and challenges. Nanomedicine”, [16]. W. S. Hummers et al., “Preparation of
6 (2), 317–324, 2011. graphitic oxide”, Journal of the American
[5]. IT. Kim et al., „Synthesis and electrochemical Chemical Society, 80 (6), 1339–1339, 1958.
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4814, 2010. TEM and electron spectroscopy methods”,
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nano-layer by chemical graphitization of Phenomena, 195, 145–154, 2014.
graphite oxide from exfoliation and
preliminary reduction”, Fullerenes, Nanotubes
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[8]. Z. Wang et al., “The green synthesis of
reduced graphene oxide by the ethanol-thermal
reaction and its electrical properties”,
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[9]. A. Esmaeili et al., “Facile and fast synthesis of
graphene oxide nanosheets via bath ultrasonic
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[10]. A. Ansón-Casaos et al., “The effect of gamma-
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Applied Surface Science, 301, 264–272, 2014.
[11]. J. Li et al., “γ-ray irradiation effects on
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[12]. J. Jung et al., “Rapid, facile, and eco-friendly
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53
 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 54-59

The Brandon mathematical model describing the effect of

calcination and reduction parameters on specific surface area of
ex-ADU UO2 powders
Nguyen Trong Hung, Le Ba Thuan, et.al.

Institute for Technology of Radioactive and Rare Elements (ITRRE),

48 Lang Ha, Dong Da, Ha Noi, Vietnam.
Email: nthungvaec@gmail.com
(Received 19 April 2016, accepted 14 June 2016)

Abstract: The report “Brandon mathematical model describing the effect of calcination and reduction
parameters on specific surface area of UO2 powders” [14] has built up a mathematical model describing
the effect of the fabrication parameters on SSA (Specific Surface Area) of ex-AUC (Ammonium
Uranyl Carbonate) UO2 powders. In the paper, the Brandon mathematical model that describe the
relationship between the essential fabrication parameters [reduction temperature (TR), calcination
temperature (TC), calcination time (tC) and reduction time (tR)] and SSA of the obtained ex-ADU
(Ammonium Di-Uranate) UO2 powder product has established. The proposed model was tested with
Wilcoxon’s rank sum test, showing a good agreement with the experimental parameters. The proposed
model can be used to predict and control the SSA of ex-ADU UO2 powders.
Keywords: UO2 powder, Ammonium Di-Uranate (ADU), Brandon mathematical model.

I. INTRODUCTION and granulation) might be omitted for UO2

The manufacture of the UO2 nuclear fuel
pellets includes the conversion of UF6 into UO2
powder and the fabrication of UO2 pellets from
such UO2 powder [1-3]. In regard to the
conversion of UF6 into UO2 powder, many dry
and wet conversion methods have been
developed [4-9]. In a former wet conversion,
UF6 was hydrolyzed in water to form uranyl
fluoride – fluoride acid (UO2F2-HF) solution.
Subsequently, the solution was precipitated
through either an ammonium di-uranate (ADU)
route or an ammonium uranyl carbonate (AUC)
route. These ADU and/or AUC powders are
then calcinated and reduced into UO2 powders
[5-9]. The ex-ADU UO2 powder possesses
some characteristics different from the ex-AUC
UO2 powder, such as particle size and
flowability [7-9]. The flowability and the
particle size of the ex-AUC UO2 powder are
better than those of the ex-ADU UO2 powder,
so press feed preparation stage (pre-pressing
ceramic pellet preperated from the ex-AUC
UO2 powder [1, 7-9].
Chemical reactions for ADU formation
from uranyl solution, in particular, are as below
[6]:
2UO2F2 + 6NH4OH = (NH4)2U2O7 + 4NH4F +
3H2O (1)
2UO2F2 + 6NH3(gas) + 3H2O = (NH4)2U2O7 +
4NH4F (2)
The ADU intermediate products are often
contaminated with fluoride (F) ions. So, the
preparation of UO2 powder via ADU route
includes two sequential steps: the calcination of
ADU precipitate into U3O8 powder with
coincident F elimination and the reduction of
the U3O8 into UO2 ceramic powder [10-11].
These two steps are essential in the UO2 pellet
fabrication.
The parameters of the UO 2 preparation
strongly affect the final characteristics of UO 2

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 NGUYEN TRONG HUNG, LE BA THUAN, et.al.

powder and, therefore, have an effect on UO2 II. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION

pelletizing [6-9]. Specific surface area (SSA)
of the UO2 powder is one of the most
important characteristics affecting the activity
and the correspondence of the powder during
UO2 ceramic pellet fabrication. The SSA is a
function of grain size, aggregation and
agglomeration, morphology and structure of
the powder [6-9]. Therefore, SSA is
considered as the most important feature to
assess sinterability of the UO 2 powder. In
report [14], we built a mathematical model to
describe the relationship between its SSA and
the process parameters for the calcination and
reduction for the ex-AUC UO2 powder, the
equation was:
( ) ( Germany) and hydrogen-nitrogen-steam supply
)(
)(
)(
) ( )
In the paper, we would establish a
mathematical model to describe the relationship
between its SSA and the process parameters for
the calcination and reduction that were
employed for UO2 powder fabrication via ADU
route.
The ADU powder was precipitated by the
reaction of ammonium liquid with a solution
containing uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) and fluoride
acid (HF) with U:F molar ratio of 1:6. The
solution is composed of the same constituents
(UO2F2 and HF) and their molar ratio as the
product of the UF6 hydrolyzing process.
Analytical grade nitrogen and hydrogen were
used as pure gases during calcination and
reduction.
The calcination of ADU into U3O8 and
the reduction of the U3O8 into UO2 powder were
carried out in an apparatus consisting of a
rotary tube furnace 1300oC (Nabertherm,
system. Figure 1 shows a sketch of our
apparatus. The calcination was carried out over
a range of time and temperatures in an
atmosphere of nitrogen and steam (1:1 in molar
ratio). After the calcination finished, the
subsequent reduction was carried out in a
reducing atmosphere of hydrogen and nitrogen
gases (3:1 in molar ratio). The final product was
UO2 powder. The specific surface area (SSA)
of the obtained UO2 powder was measured by
the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method
(Coulter SA 3100, USA).

Fig. 1. Experimental setup, 1. N2 flow for reduction; 2. Valve of H2 and N2 mixture flow for reduction; 3. N2
flow for calcination; 4. Valve of N2 and H2O (stream) mixture flow for calcination; 5. H2 flow for reduction; 6.
Valve for gases out;

55
 THE BRANDON MATHEMATICAL MODEL DESCRIBING THE EFFECT OF CALCINATION …

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Brandon model by determining corresponding

parameters in that order.
Multiple regression analysis for the
establishment of Brandon equation By using the method of least squares and
Solver tool of Microsoft Excel, the function
In order to master preparing the UO2 f1(TR) is determined in the equation as follows:
powders whose properties are appropriate to the
UO2 ceramic pellet fabrication and on the basis ( ) (8)
of experimental data that describe the effects of ŷ1 was calculated as follows:
process conditions on SSA of UO2 powder, a
( )
statistical modeling method using Brandon ̂ ( )
( ) ( )
multiple regression model is used. The form of
Brandon mathematical equation is as follows: With the same calculation, the other
functions of TC, tC, and tR were obtained as
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) bellows:
Where, y denotes the SSA of UO2 ( ) (10)
powder, fj(xj) are the functions presenting the
effect of process parameter xj on SSA (y), and a ( ) (11)
is a constant [12-14]. ( ) (12)
In Brandon equation, the series of The corresponding independent functions
functions fj(xj) are presented in a descending ŷ1 were:
order of the relevance of process factors.
̂
̂ ( )
In order to establish Brandon equation, ( )
an experimental data set y; x1, x2,…xk is used
̂
for determining the regression function y = ̂ ( )
( )
f1(x1). From f1(x1), a new data set is obtained by
evaluating: ̂
̂ ( )
( )
̂ ( )
( ) All of these values are reported in Table I.
As a result, ŷ1 is independent on x1 but is The constant a in Brandon equation was
affected by x2, x3, …xk: calculated from average of y4 to be 0.999813.
̂ ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Thus, Brandon function describing the
effect of the process parameters on the SSA of
The others fj(xj) are calculated in the
same way with f1(x1), we obtain: the UO2 powder is in the form:
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( )
̂ ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Our experimental data indicated that four ( )(
parameters (factors) affecting SSA of UO2 )( )(
powder are in a descending order as follows: ) ( )
reduction temperature T R, calcination
SSA(Cal.) values of the UO2 powder are
temperature TC, calcination time tC, and
shown in Table I.
reduction time tR. Thus, we established

56
 NGUYEN TRONG HUNG, LE BA THUAN, et.al.

Table I. Experimental and calculated data of function f1(TR) and ŷ1; f2(TC) and ŷ2; f3(tC) and ŷ3; f4(tR)
and ŷ4; and SSA(Cal.) (ŷ) used to establish Brandon mathematical model

TR tR TC tC SSA(Ex.)(ÿ) SSA(Cal.)
Sample (m2/gr.)
f1(TR) ŷ1 f2(TC) ŷ2 f3(tC) ŷ3 f4(tR) ŷ4 (ŷ)
o
( C) (hr.) (oC) (hr.) (m2/gr.)

M1 550 5 650 4 4.430 3.991 1.110081 1.138 0.975467 0.984 0.991429 1.012 0.980 4.519
M2 600 5 650 4 4.333 3.871 1.119436 1.138 0.983687 0.984 0.999783 1.012 0.988 4.383
M3 650 5 650 4 5.521 3.751 1.471992 1.138 1.29349 0.984 1.314656 1.012 1.300 4.247
M4 700 5 650 4 3.478 3.631 0.957942 1.138 0.841777 0.984 0.855551 1.012 0.846 4.112
M5 600 2 700 3 4.070 3.871 1.051489 0.993 1.058902 0.951 1.113930 0.975 1.142 3.563
M6 600 3 700 3 3.340 3.871 0.862893 0.993 0.868976 0.951 0.914134 0.987 0.926 3.607
M7 600 4 700 3 3.514 3.871 0.907846 0.993 0.914246 0.951 0.961757 1.000 0.962 3.651
M8 600 5 700 3 3.538 3.871 0.914047 0.993 0.920490 0.951 0.968325 1.012 0.957 3.695
M9 700 3 600 5 4.199 3.631 1.156526 1.283 0.901423 1.017 0.886181 0.987 0.897 4.678
M10 700 5 700 4 3.626 3.631 0.998705 0.993 1.005746 0.984 1.022203 1.012 1.010 3.588
M11 700 3 700 5 3.549 3.631 0.977497 0.993 0.984388 1.017 0.967743 0.987 0.980 3.620
M12 650 4 750 2 2.917 3.751 0.777721 0.848 0.917124 0.917 0.999809 1.000 1.000 2.916
M13 650 4 750 3 2.868 3.751 0.764657 0.848 0.901718 0.951 0.948578 1.000 0.949 3.021
M14 650 4 750 5 3.424 3.751 0.912896 0.848 1.076529 1.017 1.058325 1.000 1.059 3.233

Test Brandon mathematical
Wilcoxon’s rank sum test
The Wilcoxon rank-sum test is a
nonparametric alternative to the two-sample
(for example A and B) test that we wish that the
data of measurements in population A is the
same as that in B. We have two groups:
Group SSA(Ex.): X1, X2, X3, …, Xn1;
distribution ÿ
model by Group SSA(Cal.): Y1, Y2, Y3, …, Yn2;
distribution ŷ
Null Hypothesis: SSA(Ex.) = SSA(cal.)
Herein, SSA(Ex.) is experimentally
obtained SSA. The two groups are combined
into one group (for example WT) WT of W(1),
W(2), W(3), …, W(n1+n2); order data in the
combined group W(1) ≤ W(2) ≤ . . . ≤ W(n1+n2);
and then assign ranks (as in Table II).

Table II. Order of all observations in the combined sample and assign ranks
of the group WT (SSA(Cal.) data are underlined)

WT 2.868 2.916 2.917 3.021 3.233 3.34 3.424 3.478 3.514 3.538

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

WT 3.549 3.563 3.588 3.607 3.62 3.626 3.651 3.695 4.07 4.112

Rank 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

WT 4.199 4.247 4.333 4.383 4.43 4.519 4.678 5.521

Rank 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

57
 THE BRANDON MATHEMATICAL MODEL DESCRIBING THE EFFECT OF CALCINATION …

Thus, sum of ranks S of group ŷ is 95% reliability of T is: T  1.96   T

calculated as follows:
T  1.96   T  203 1.96  21.76  160.35
S=2+4+5+12+13+14+15+17+18+20+22+24
T  1.96   T  203  1.96  21.76  245.65
+26+27=219
The sum of ranks S of group ŷ is 219, in
Mean rank (T) of distribution ŷ is:
reliability range from 160.35 to 245.65, so two
n2 (n1  n2  1) 14(14  14  1) group SSA(Ex.) and SSA(Cal.) are asserted to be
T    203
2 2 the same. Figure 2 is the plot comparing SSA(Ex.)
with SSA(Cal.) of the UO2 powder indicating the
And the variance is:
agreement of the proposed calculation with the
n1n2 (n1  n2  1) 14  14(14  14  1) experimental data. Thus, we suppose that the
 T2    473.66
12 12 Brandon mathematical model is capable to
describe the effect of the factors on the SSA of
σT = σT2 = 473.66=21.76 the UO2 powder that was obtained from the
calcination and reduction of ADU.

5.5

5
SSA(cal.), in m2/gr.

4.5

3.5

2.5

2
2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
SSA(ex.), in m2/gr.

Fig. 2. Comparison of SSA(Ex.) and SSA(Cal.) of the ex-ADU UO2 powder.

IV. CONCLUSIONS calcination time (tC) and reduction time (tR)]

In this paper, we proposed a
mathematical model describing the effect of the
fabrication parameters on SSA of the ex-ADU
UO2 powders. To the best of our knowledge,
the Brandon model as presented in equation (17)
is used to describe the relationship between the
essential fabrication parameters [(reduction
temperature (TR), calcination temperature (TC),
and SSA of the obtained ex-ADU UO2 powder
product. The proposed model was tested with
Wilcoxon’s rank sum test, showing a good
agreement with the experimental parameters.
The proposed model was well applied for
roughly predicting SSA of the ex-ADU UO2
powders that is fabricated by means of
calcination and reduction of ADU at our
institution.

58
 NGUYEN TRONG HUNG, LE BA THUAN, et.al.

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2. D. Olander, “Nuclear fuels – Present and future”,
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3. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Information System, “A
Directory of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities”,
IAEA-TECDOC-1613, 2009 Edition.
N.Y. Smirnov, and V. V. Zarutskii, “Study of
the solubility of L (+)-threoammonium salt of
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14. Nguyen Trong Hung, Le Ba Thuan, et. al.,
“Brandon mathematical model describing the
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 Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol.6, No. 3 (2016), pp. 60-66

The efficient neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination with

small active volume scintillation detector
Phan Van Chuan1, Nguyen Duc Hoa1, Nguyen Xuan Hai2, Nguyen Ngoc Anh2,
Tuong Thi Thu Huong2, Nguyen Nhi Dien2, Pham Dinh Khang3
1
Dalat University, 01 Phu Dong Thien Vuong, Dalat, Lam Dong, Vietnam
2
Nuclear Research Institute, 01 Nguyen Tu Luc, Dalat, Lam Dong, Vietnam
3
Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 01 Dai Co Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam
(Received 13 September 2016, accepted 07 December 2016)

Abstract: A small detector with EJ-301 liquid scintillation was manufactured for the study on the
neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination. In this research, four algorithms, including Threshold
crossing time (TCT), Pulse gradient analysis (PGA), Charge comparison method (CCM), and
Correlation pattern recognition (CPR) were developed and compared in terms of their discrimination
effectiveness between neutrons and gamma rays. The figures of merits (FOMs) obtained for 100 ÷ 2000
keVee (keV energy electron equivalent) neutron energy range show the charge comparison method was
the most efficient of the four algorithms.
Keywords: EJ-301 liquid scintillation detector, threshold crossing time, pulse gradient analysis,
charge comparison, correlation pattern recognition.

I. INTRODUCTION convertor (ADC), field programmable gate

The neutron - gamma (n-) pulse shape
discrimination (PSD) techniques are very
important in the fast neutron measurement
using the scintillation detectors. Among of
these detectors, the EJ-301 liquid scintillation
detector has been widely employed because of
their excellent neutron-gamma discrimination,
high efficiency for the fast neutron detection
and superior time resolution. It detects both
neutron and gamma ray and the two particle
types can be distinguished by analyzing the
shapes of measured pulses.
Various n- PSD techniques have been
developed, including both analog and digital
approaches such as zero-crossing method,
constant fraction discriminator [1,2], charge
comparison [2,3], frequency gradient analysis
[4], threshold crossing time, correlation pattern
recognition methods [5], etc.
Fast electronics development has created
new techniques such as flash analog digital
array (FPGA), and digital signal processing
(DSP). That makes the PSD methods widely
applied. In modern PSD systems, pulses from
detector are digitized by flash ADC and the
data are stored in memory and analyzed by PSD
method on computer[5-7], or on the board
FPGA/DSP [4]. Almost studies of neutron -
gamma PSD were performed on different
detectors; however, the evaluation of neutron-
gamma PSDs’ capacities has not been carried
out. In this work, a prototype of a small active
volume scintillation detector was made for
studying neutron and gamma measurement.
Based on the digitized pulses from the detector,
the four algorithms of RTD, PGA, CCM and
CPR have been used to evaluate the detector’s
efficiency for neutron-gamma discrimination.
II. EXPERIMENT
A. Experiment setup
The prototype detector’s intrinsic volume
has the dimensions of 34mm in diameter and

©2016 Vietnam Atomic Energy Society and Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute
 NGUYEN XUAN HAI et al.

60mm in length. It was filled with EJ301 liquid characterized difference between neutron and
scintillator and encapsulated in an aluminum gamma would be located in the tail of the pulse.
cell whose walls were1mmthick and well-
The detector testing was done with
polished. The scheme of the detector is shown
radioactive sources and digital oscilloscope.
in Fig. 1. The scintillation cell was contacted
Fig. 2 shows the layout of experimental
with a Hamamatsu R9420 photomultiplier tube
arrangement; in which the high voltage power
(PMT) with operating negative voltage of
supply was a model 3002D and detector’s
1200V through a 2 mm thick ultra violet glass
output was connected to the input of
layer. The output pulses from the anode of the
oscilloscope model DPO7254C. The standard
PMT which had very short rise time (less than
gamma ray sources (22Na, 60Co and 137Cs) were
5ns) and small amplitude were not digitized
also used to initially characterize the energy
convenient. Because of that, a fast preamplifier
performance of the detector. The 252Cf neutron
was connected directly to the anode of the
source with the activity of approximately 3.0
PMT. The preamplifier would shape the pulses
mCi was used to evaluate the detector’s
which had the rise time of approximately 10ns
efficiency of neutron-gamma separation. The
and fall time of approximately 30ns. These
DPO7254C with 8-bit resolution was operated
shapes removed the causes of distortion in
on sampling rate of 1 Giga-sample per second.
cables, but retained the different characteristics
The sampling data were saved on a memory
of scintillator pulses induced by neutron or
stick for off-line analysis.
gamma particles. Because slower decay time-
constant of EJ301 is about 32ns, the

1
2 3 4 5

neutrons

Fig. 1. Scheme of neutron detector: (1) detector vessel; (2) liquid scintillator; (3) UV window glass; (4)
PMT; (5) Preamplifier (Preamp).

Neutron source Digital oscilloscope Computer

252Cf
100cm
H.V.

EJ301 PMT Preamp

Fig. 2. Diagram of the experimental setup.

B. Data analysis proportion of the slow scintillation component.

The PSD methods are based on the different
The typical pulse shapes of the EJ-301
characteristics in the pulse tails of neutrons and
liquid scintillation detector are shown in Fig. 3;
gamma-rays. In this work, TCT, PGA, CCM
the neutron pulses exhibit a larger decay time to
and CPR methods were applied for data
the base line, which is due to a greater
analysis.

61
 THE EFFICIENT NEUTRON-GAMMA PULSE SHAPE DISCRIMINATION WITH …

Fig. 3. Typical sample of detector signals for neutron and gamma ray in one sampling frame.

a) TCT method is carried out by ∫ ( ) ∑ ( ) (2)

measuring the time interval (∆t) between the
time where the pulse amplitude begins to fall
(t2) and the time where the amplitude cuts the
threshold (t3) (see Fig. 3). The time where the
amplitude is over the threshold of neutron
pulses is greater than that of the gamma pulses,
so it was used as a parameter to neutron -
gamma PSD.
b) PGA method is gradient analysis of
the integrated pulses to discriminate neutron
and gamma radiation. The value of gradient is
based on the comparison of the relative heights
of the samples at the pulse tail, and determined
by equation (1) [11].
Where V(k) is the amplitude of the kth in
sampling period T, t1 and t2 are timing of
beginning and ending of sampling period and t
= t2 – t1.
d) For CPR method, a signal is
considered as an object vector X whose
components are the digitized amplitude xn of
the signal at sampling time tn. CPR is
performed by taking a scalar product of this
vector with the reference vector Y which
describes a gamma ray or neutron signal [5].
X  ( x1, x2 ,..., xn ); Y  ( y1,y2 ,..., yn ) (3)

dV ( t ) V ( k  nT )  V ( k )
   X .Y
dt nT r (4)
(1) X .Y
Where V(k) is the amplitude of the kth in
sampling period T and n is the number of Where, r is the correlation coefficient
sampling periods. In approximation, if n is a
between vector X and vector Y , X .Y is
constant, then | ( ) ( )|.
scalar product, X and Y are the norm of the
c) CCM is based on area comparison of
vectors X and Y respectively.
the rising or the falling portions of a pulse.
n
Because the pulse gradient of neutrons is  xi . yi
different from that of gamma rays; therefore, i 1
  Acr cos (5)
the ratios of a pulse area are also changed. The n n
 xi 
2 2
area S of the pulse was calculated based on yi
i 1 i 1
equation (2) [5].

62
 NGUYEN XUAN HAI et al.

Where,  ( rad ) is the angle between the III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
vectors; the  value indicates the similarity of A. Results
the object vector with the reference vector. Fig. 4 shows the amplitude spectra which
C. Evaluation of pulse shape discrimination were measured with radioisotope sources of
60
Co, 22Na and 137Cs. The upper inset plot shows
The FOM was used to evaluate the the results of amplitude calibration in which its
quantitative results of neutron-gamma points are the positions of Compton edges
discrimination, and defined by equation 6. coinciding with the gamma peaks induced from
radioisotope sources. These data points were
Chn  Ch
FOM  fitted with a linear model with first order
FWHM n  FWHM  function as E(Ch) = 0.188×Ch - 30.55; where E
(6)
and Ch are energy and channel, respectively.
Where, Chn , Ch are the positions of
The measured data with a neutron
neutron and gamma peaks respectively; source 252Cf were analyzed by the methods of
FWHMn and FWHM are the full-width-half- TCT, PGA, CCM and CPR. The scatter plots
maximums of neutron and gamma peaks of the n- separation with energy threshold of
respectively, in the histogram. 100keVee by four methods are shown in Fig.
5, 6, 7 and 8.

Fig. 4. Pulse height distribution from sources of 60Co, 22Na and 137Cs. The upper inset shows the calibration
data using the Compton edges of the gamma - ray spectra

Fig. 5. Threshold crossing time versus pulses Fig. 6. Pulses gradient versus pulse height

63
 THE EFFICIENT NEUTRON-GAMMA PULSE SHAPE DISCRIMINATION WITH …
Fig. 5 shows the two-dimensional plot of
threshold crossing time versus pulse amplitude.
The data in Fig. 5 show that n- PSD of the
pulse heights for each waveform in the energy
region greater than 500 keVee is good. Fig.6 is
the scatter plot of gradients versus pulse heights
for each waveform. Fig.7 shows the scatter plot
of area ratios of pulse tails versus pulse heights
for each waveform. Fig.8 is the scatter plot of
Fig. 7.The integrated charge versus pulse heights
Fig. 9. Histogram of threshold crossing time
Fig. 12 shows the distribution of FOM
values of methods as threshold crossing time,
pulse gradient analysis, charge comparison, and
correlation pattern recognition in the range of
energy from 100 to 2000keVee.
64
angle ratios versus pulse heights for each
waveform. Based on the analytical results, the
discrimination between neutron-gamma pulses
in the RTD and CCM methods are better than
the PGA and CPR methods in the high energy
region (> 200 keV).
Fig. 9, 10, 11 and 12 are the statistical
charts of four methods, the energy threshold
was set at 800keV.
Fig. 8. Angle ratios versus pulse heights
Fig. 10. Histogram of pulse gradient analysis
Fig. 12 shows the distribution of FOM
values of methods as threshold crossing time,
pulse gradient analysis, charge comparison, and
correlation pattern recognition in the range of
energy from 100 to 2000keVee.
 NGUYEN XUAN HAI et al.

Fig. 11. Histogram of charge comparison Fig. 12. Histogram of correlation pattern

Fig. 13.The FOM values as a function of energy threshold corresponding with four methods as threshold
crossing time, pulse gradient analysis, charge comparison, and correlation pattern recognition in the range of
energy from 100keV to 2000keV

Table I shows FOM values at 700 keV considered as specialist of the four surveyed
energy threshold and duty time for data methods.
processing. The values in the table can be
Table I. The FOM values and processing time of PSD methods
Method FOM (at 700keV) Processing time (ns)

Threshold crossing time 1.10 260 ± 6

Pulse gradient analysis 0.78 86±2
Charge comparison 1.20 170 ± 3
Correlation pattern recognition 0.98 228 ± 2

B. Discussion the active volume of the detector was small-

typed. In this detector, the FOM of CCM
The obtained FOM values were in the
method was the highest in the energy region of
average range from 0.2 to 1.4. This result is
100 keV to 2000 keV.
suitable for the simulation estimation because

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 THE EFFICIENT NEUTRON-GAMMA PULSE SHAPE DISCRIMINATION WITH …
The difference of FOMs between CCM
and TCT is less than twenty percent, but the
processing time of TCT is about thirteen
percent larger than that of CCM. However the
algorithm implementation for TCT method is
rather simple and can easily be done on the
neutron measuring system using an FPGA. The
PGA method has the shortest processing time,
but its’ FOM is small and not stable in the
surveyed energy region with the detector's
small active volume.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This study surveyed the efficiency of
distinguishing between neutron and gamma
pulses from the small active volume
scintillation detector using the EJ-301 liquid
scintillation. The four neutron-gamma PSD
algorithms were used to do the analysis and the
results show that the FOM of CCM method is
better than of the TCT, PGA, and CPR
methods. These results are the basis for
building the neutron detection systems using
the EJ-301 liquid scintillation detectors with a
small active volume in combination with DSP
and FPGA techniques.
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