Design of a devoted γ spectroscopy device for axial and azimuthal activity measurements on JHR-type curved fuel plates

The AMMON experimental program in the Cadarache EOLE zero power reactor is devoted to the experimental validation of the HORUS-3D neutron and photon calculation scheme for the future Jules Horowitz Material Testing Reactor. Several experimental core configurations have been investigated, based on the same lattice global geometry: a central hexagonal aluminium box, with 7 JHR fuel elements, surrounded by a driver zone composed of standard PWR-UO
₂
fuel pins. For experimental purposes, one assembly can be fully disassembled to enable precise measurements of local fission rates in the plates. Within this frame, a dedicated γ-spectrometry device has been designed to precisely measure axial and azimuthal fission rate distributions on these special fuel elements.