Comparison between different flux traps assembled in the core of the nuclear reactor IPEN/MB-01 by measuring of the thermal and epithermal neutron fluxes using activation foils

The production of radioisotopes is one of the most important applications of nuclear research reactors. This study investigated a method called Flux Trap, which is used to increase the yield of production of radioisotopes in nuclear reactors. The method consists in the rearrangement of the fuel rods to allow the increase of the thermal neutron flux in the irradiation region inside the reactor core, without changing the standard reactor power level. Various configurations were assembled with the objective of finding the configuration with the highest thermal neutron flux in the region of irradiation. The method of activation analysis was used to measure the thermal neutron flux and determine the most efficient reactor core configuration . It was found that there was an increase in the thermal neutron flux of 337% in the most efficient configuration, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the method. (author)