Characterization of the fast neutron irradiation facility of the Portuguese Research Reactor after core conversion

The data acquisition and control instrumentation in port cell cubicles of tokamak ITER will be irradiated with neutrons, during the fusion reactor operation. A Virtex-6 FPGA from Xilinx (XC6VLX365T-1FFG1156C) is used on the ATCA-IO-PROCESSOR board, included in the ITER Catalog of I&C products -Fast Controllers. The Virtex-6 is a re-programmable logic device where the configuration is stored in Static RAM (SRAM), functional data stored in dedicated Block RAM (BRAM) and functional state logic in Flip-Flops. Single Event Upsets (SEU) due to the ionizing radiation of neutrons causes soft errors, unintended changes (bit-flips) to the values stored in state elements of the FPGA. The SEU monitoring and soft errors repairing, when possible, were explored in this work. An FPGA built-in Soft Error Mitigation (SEM) controller detects and corrects soft errors in the FPGA configuration memory. SEU sensors with Error Correction Code (ECC) detect and repair the BRAM memories. Proper management of SEU can increase reliability and availability of control instrumentation hardware for nuclear applications. The results of the tests performed using the SEM controller and the BRAM SEU sensors are presented for a Virtex-6 FPGA (XC6VLX240T-1FFG1156C) when irradiated with neutrons from the Portuguese Research Reactor (RPI), a 1 MW nuclear fission reactor operated by IST in the neighborhood of Lisbon. Results show that the proposed SEU mitigation technique is able to repair the majority of the detected SEU errors in the configuration and BRAM memories.

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“…The reactor irradiation facility used was the fast neutron beam tube E4 and respective chamber [5]. Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test results of an ITER relevant FPGA when irradiated with neutrons

Batista

Leong

Santos

et al. 2015

2015 4th International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and Their Applications (ANIMMA

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“…This is a result both from the reduction of the thermal neutron component through the use of filters and the higher values for the displacement damage crosssection for higher energy neutrons. The hardness parameter in the 0.01-12 MeV energy interval was determined to be 0.85 [4] at the point closest to the core.…”

Section: Fast Neutron and Gamma Dosimetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research Reactor ts for cryogenic (LHC) facility at were expected to 10 13 n/cm 2 The Portuguese Research Reacto type reactor, with a compact core neutron flux up to 2×10 13 n/cm 2 program underway in the RPI cove neutron activation analysis to the c dark matter search, passing throug defects in materials and elect irradiation of electronic compone medium-power reactor such as the taking into account that the fast ne testing is, in most cases, well below Irradiations can be done in-pool values of the fast neutron flux (E>1 significantly different in the two situ neutron flux in the core periphery (h 55) it is 5×10 11 n/cm 2 /s [3], while in is 4×10 8 n/cm 2 /s [4]. Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Irradiation of electronic components and circuits at the Portuguese Research Reactor: Lessons learned

Marques¹,

Ramos²,

Fernandes³

et al. 2015

2015 4th International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and Their Applications (ANIMMA

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“…The Portuguese Research Reactor (RPI) is a 1 MW open-pool type, recently converted to Low Enriched Uranium fuel [8]. Its main applications are neutron activation analysis and irradiation of electronic components with fast neutrons [9,10]. A simple setup for neutron tomography was recently installed in the thermal column of the RPI.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Simple Setup for Neutron Tomography at the Portuguese Nuclear Research Reactor

2012

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A simple setup for neutron radiography and tomography was recently installed at the Portuguese Research Reactor. The objective of this work was to determine the operational characteristics of the installed setup, namely the irradiation time to obtain the best dynamic range for individual images and the spatial resolution. The performance of the equipment was demonstrated by imaging a fragment of a 17 th century decorative tile.

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Characterization of the fast neutron irradiation facility of the Portuguese Research Reactor after core conversion

Cited by 10 publications

References 6 publications

Test results of an ITER relevant FPGA when irradiated with neutrons

Test results of an ITER relevant FPGA when irradiated with neutrons

Irradiation of electronic components and circuits at the Portuguese Research Reactor: Lessons learned

A Simple Setup for Neutron Tomography at the Portuguese Nuclear Research Reactor

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