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Full-Text Articles in Nuclear Engineering
Rapid Analysis Of Plutonium Surrogate Material Via Hand-Held Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Ashwin P. Rao
Rapid Analysis Of Plutonium Surrogate Material Via Hand-Held Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Ashwin P. Rao
Theses and Dissertations
This work investigated the capability of a portable LIBS device to detect and quantify dopants in plutonium surrogate alloys, specifically gallium, which is a common stabilizer used in plutonium alloys. The SciAps Z500-ER was utilized to collect spectral data from cerium-gallium alloys of varying gallium concentrations. Calibration models were built to process spectra from the Ce-Ga alloys and calculate gallium concentration from spectral emission intensities. Univariate and multivariate analysis techniques were used to determine limits of detection of different emission line ratios. Spatial mapping measurements were conducted to determine the device's ability to detect variations in gallium concentration on the …
Reducing Material Attractiveness Utilizing Pu-238 And U-232, Cody Lloyd
Reducing Material Attractiveness Utilizing Pu-238 And U-232, Cody Lloyd
Theses and Dissertations
Decreasing the material attractiveness of uranium and plutonium materials is crucial to nuclear nonproliferation. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) implements safeguards across the world on a limited budget. Not only does decreasing material attractiveness reduce the possibility of proliferation, but also may lighten the financial burden on the IAEA if safeguards can be reduced. Two particular isotopes that have negative material attractiveness traits are 238Pu and 232U. Without isotopic separation technology, these isotopes cannot be removed from plutonium and uranium materials respectively. Both 238Pu and 232U produce large quantities of heat by alpha decay. High …
Innovative Fuel Design To Improve Proliferation Management, Taylor C. Britt
Innovative Fuel Design To Improve Proliferation Management, Taylor C. Britt
Theses and Dissertations
This research uses an existing innovative fuel design (IFD) that has intrinsic safety features and enhanced economics over the current uranium dioxide (UO2) light water fuel design and evaluates promising methods to improve the waste management and proliferation resistance of the IFD by doping the fresh fuel with select actinides.The most robust approach for proliferation resistance is to denature these materials by adding a uranium or plutonium isotope that hampers the usability of the materials in weapons. The proposed modifications to the IFD use this approach through elevated fractions of 238Pu. 238Pu generates large quantities of …
Special Nuclear Material Imaging Using A High Purity Germanium Double Sided Strip Detector, Clifford V. Sulham
Special Nuclear Material Imaging Using A High Purity Germanium Double Sided Strip Detector, Clifford V. Sulham
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this research is to investigate the feasibility of using a High Purity Germanium Double Sided Strip Detector (HPGeDSSD) to image Special Nuclear Material (SNM) for use in the field of nuclear nonproliferation. SNM shape can be determined by using a gamma ray imaging system that is capable of imaging either Pu-239 or U-235. The detector used for this research is a liquid-nitrogen cooled germanium detector with five charge collection strips on both faces. The strips on the two faces are orthogonal to each other, creating a five by five array of data collection pixels. When the detector …