Feasibility study of iridium production at ETRR-2

Iridium is a very rare, precious, silvery white, hard, brittle metal that even resists most acids, it is one of the densest substances known on earth ( 22.5 g/cm3). The important radioactive isotope (iridium-192) is produced by neutron irradiations of iridium-191 found in natural iridium. Ir-192 has a half-live of 74 days and is used in industrial radiography and it has many other applications. This work presents a neutronic analysis part of a feasibility study of iridium production in the core central position of ETRR-2. A design of iridium irradiation device is proposed. Monte Carlo simulation of the reactor core with and without Iridium device has been performed. The results showed that the reactivity worth of about 120 g is less than 1200 PCM, which agree with the safety limits of the reactor. Also the heat deposition and power peaking factor have been calculated. Finally, the activity of iridium as a function of irradiation time was calculated.