Reactor lifetime under control: the contribution of the VENUS neutron dosimetry programme

Lifetime management of PWR reactors is an important stake concerning safety and competitiveness of these electricity production systems. The embrittlement of the pressure vessel is due to neutron exposure is the main limiting phenomenon of the PWR lifetime. Therefore, an accurate assessment of the pressure vessel fast fluency contributes deeply to a better management of the reactor lifetime. The Light Water Reactor Pressure Vessel Surveillance Dosimetry Improvement Program (LWR-PV-SDIP) was established in 1977 and sponsored by the US NRC. Its objectives were: improve, maintain and standardize neutron dosimetry, damage correlation and associated reactor analysis procedures used for predicting integrated effects of neutron exposure on LWR-PV. The VENUS PWR-Engineering Mock-up Experiment is part of the Belgian PWR- Pressure Vessel Surveillance Programme sponsored by the Belgian utilities. It contributed also, as one of the benchmark fields to the LWR-PV-SDIP, the VENUS mock-ups simulate the reflector geometry and the core boundary shape of a generic 3-loop PWR reactor. In this paper we will report on the three configurations considered in this programme namely: VENUS-1 simulating a PWR fresh core loading, VENUS-2 simulating a low-Ieakage core loading, and VENUS-3 simulating the PLSA (Partial Length Shielded Assembly) concept. Thanks to this programme, the PWR PV fast fluency can be assessed with an uncertainty ranging between 15 and 20%. (author)