[en] Within the CEA (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) at Cadarache Research Center located in southern France, the Harmonie reactor, was started up in 1965. It was part of the joint achievements between EURATOM and the CEA on the study and development of Fast Reactors (Rapsodie-Masurca-Harmonie). It was officially closed in 1995 and finally shutdown in 1997 after the removal of start-up sources. The CEA then wished to dismantle the facility up to green field stage. This paper presents the feedback of the decommissioning operations. (author)

[en] Spectral hardening, i.e. the increase of the spectrum average energy of neutrons produced by Cadarache CEA Harmonie reactor, has been calculated and experimentally tested by the mean of a polyethylene shell surrounding the core. Results show that a 8cm polyethylene layer is enough to produce a spectrum with a hardness similar to that of a fission nuclear weapon. In these conditions, the reactor may be considered as well as a good simulator of the neutronic spectrum of the weapon

No abstract available

[en] Among the many domains of reactor physics on which Massimo Salvatores gave his considerable contributions, he was particularly passionate about integral experiments. In this paper, we make a review of selected experimental campaigns among the numerous ones he has promoted, conceived, designed, directed, or analyzed. They have been regrouped in a temporal sequence corresponding to the different periods of Massimo's career, which exceeded 50 years. When possible, for each of the experiments we provide a brief description, the goal for which it was conceived and carried out, and the practical impact on validation and design improvement. Finally, the conclusions offer thoughts and suggestions for the future of the integral experiments and a possible way of honoring the invaluable legacy that Massimo Salvatores has left to us. (authors)

No abstract available

[en] The first results of a joint CEA/CNEN neutron propagation program conducted on the source reactors HARMONIE and TAPIRO are presented. In both cases, a buffer zone representative of the blanket of a commercial fast power reactor is interposed between the source reactor and the medium in which neutron propagation is measured. This buffer zone provides a realistic source spectrum to be propagated. Experimental results are compared to older results obtained without the buffer zone. The effect of the source spectrum on neutron propagation is discussed, as well as the coherence of the results obtained with the two installations

[en] The presente note is a documentation of the neutron propagation experiments in sodium, performed on HARMONIE. Details are given on the geometrical specifications, experimental results and calculation, one and two dimensional, results

[en] The service of study of pile protection has made at Cadarache between the 23 of august 1966 and the 18 of january 1967 a first series of measurement allowing the experimental study of the propagation of neutrons and gammas flux through thin and double loss of touch slits. These slits have been got by the use of removable concrete blocks built specially in this aim. They have been placed on the superior face of the adaptation block of the Harmonie reactor that constituted the neutrons and gammas sources. The thickness (3 or 5 cm) of these slits was always low in front of their lateral dimension (126 cm) and their height (150 cm). The blocks were realised in standard concrete boron at 1 p.cent and the surfaces limiting these slits were constituted by the concrete of blocks or steel plates (1 cm thickness) fixed on these blocks (slits called with iron skin). In this case the thickness of the considered slit was the thickness of the air layer between the steel plates

[en] Within the CEA Cadarache Center, the Harmonie reactor was started up in 1965. It was part of the joint program with EURATOM on Fast Reactors R and D. With a low power 2 kW, Harmonie was intended to provide a hard neutron spectrum for development and calibration of nuclear instruments, and to be used for experiments with degraded and thermal spectra. Harmonie was shut down in 1997 after the removal of start-up sources. The facility is made of two main parts: the reactor hall including the reactor block, and basement with reactor mechanism pit, ventilation room, experiments room, power and control room. As soon as 1997 CEA started the decommissioning studies aiming the Greenfield. The dismantling scenario was defined in 3 phases: conventional waste zones, nuclear waste zones, and complete demolition of the building. The regulatory file was sent to the NSA in April 2002. The first phase of dismantling was started in 2003, and the dismantling decree was obtained on January 8, 2004, allowing the second phase of the dismantling operations. First phase operations were conducted between April 2003 to July 2004, and produced 60 ton of conventional waste. Between July 2004 and May 2006 the reactor block was dismantled and the concrete slab was cleaned up in the frame of the second phase. A cleanup methodology was followed in respect with the French principle for nuclear facility de-licensing, requiring an analytical approach of history, activation calculation and contamination transfer and designing proper treatment for each surface category. Since there is no threshold when it comes to recycling or releasing materials from nuclear facilities, treatment is aiming a very low radiological target value. This value, known as 'decision criterion', was setup at 0.4 Bq/g, and comforted by a risk assessment. 250 ton of nuclear waste were produced throughout that phase. After treatment, a measurement campaign was carried out to confirm that the remaining structure was free of any artificial activity, and the request to declassify the nuclear waste zones was submitted to the NSA in December 2006. After the authorization given by NSA in May 2007, the whole building was demolished as conventional waste from July to October 2007, producing 2800 ton of waste. A report describing the whole process of dismantling, cleaning and demolishing was sent to NSA in 2008, the decree of Harmonie de-licensing is expected for mid 2009. (authors)

[en] In the statistical adjustment method used to improve basic data, several parameters play an important role: the number of integral experiments used, the magnitudes of incertainties on the basic data and integral experiments, etc. We study here the influence of the choice of these parameters on the adjustment procedure