Activation assessment of the soil around the ESS accelerator tunnel

Activation of the soil surrounding the ESS accelerator tunnel calculated by the MARS15 code is presented. A detailed composition of the soil, that comprises about 30 chemical elements, is considered. Spatial distributions of the produced activity are provided in both transverse and longitudinal directions. A realistic irradiation profile for the entire planned lifetime of the facility is used. The nuclear transmutation and decay of the produced radionuclides is calculated with the DeTra code which is a built-in tool for the MARS15 code. Radionuclide production by low-energy neutrons is calculated using the ENDF/B-VII evaluated nuclear data library. In order to estimate quality of this activation assessment, a comparison between calculated and measured activation of various foils in a similar radiation environment is presented. (paper)