Thermal Simulations of a New SiC Detector Design for Neutron Measurements in JSI Nuclear Research Reactor

Abstract

Today, to respond to the increase of development of accurate, precise and relevant experiments in nuclear research reactors and tokamaks with their severe and intense operating conditions, there is a major need of innovative sensors that can accurately measure key parameters such as neutron and photon fluxes or nuclear heating rates. Thus, innovation in the field of nuclear instrumentation and measurements is a privileged research topic. It is crucial to develop optimized devices for accurate on-line in-core measurements, and scientific/technological requirements for various applications such as ageing of materials, safety applications, beam monitoring or nuclear physics. Nowadays, more and more semiconductors are used as sensor materials in nuclear instrumentation to measure various kinds of nuclear radiations. Silicon Carbide (SiC) is among them. In fact, SiC detectors could be used for the on-line measurement of key quantities such as neutron (thermal and fast) and photon fluxes. One main challenge is to enlarge the measurement range of this detector type. The work presented in this paper deals with this aim. Firstly, an introduction dedicated to the use of SiC versus other wide bandgap semiconductors and the characteristics of the studied sensor is shown. Secondly, this paper presents 3D numerical results obtained with a parametrical thermal study of the SiC detector using COMSOL Multiphysics code for a nuclear heating range corresponding to TRIGA nuclear research reactor conditions (integral neutron flux ~2.0 x1013 n·cm‑2·s-1 leading to a nuclear heating rate of 0.25 W·g-1 in Tungsten). The main objective is to adapt and optimize the design and the housing of the detector by determining its temperature field for different configurations. The influence of various parameters is presented such as that of the housing material nature, the gas nature around the diode, the gas-gap height and the housing thickness.