Review of Application of the Recent Pulse Radiolysis and Muon Studies Devoted to Issues Related to Geniv SCWR and Small Reactors

Abstract

In recent years, there has been extensive research on small and Generation IV (GenIV) reactors. Canada focused on SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactors (SCWR) for GenIV designs and many developed countries, including Canada, are developing small reactors. Radiation and radioactive materials accompany both types of reactors like any other nuclear reactor, and as such, it is important to understand radiation effects under conditions existing in these reactors and in their spent fuel reprocessing. These radiation effects could be detrimental to the performance and functionality of these new generations of reactors if they are not well understood and if measures are not put in place to deal with such effects. Such measures need to be considered at the design stage as well as later during the time the reactors are running. This paper reviews applications of pulse radiolysis and muon methods towards understanding such radiation effects and provides some insights on aspects that need to be studied in the future.