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Nuclear Engineering Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Nuclear Engineering

Detection Of Special Nuclear Material With High Purity Germanium (Hpge) And Mercuric Iodide (Hgi2) Gamma Detectors, Michael B. Nelson Mar 2003

Detection Of Special Nuclear Material With High Purity Germanium (Hpge) And Mercuric Iodide (Hgi2) Gamma Detectors, Michael B. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) contracted for two gamma radiation detectors: mercuric iodide (HgI2) and electromechanically cooled (EMC) high purity germanium (HPGe) to support arms control inspection efforts. This project investigated whether these detectors could measure the quality and quantity of special nuclear material (SNM), particularly Pu-239 for the treaty verification mission. The project investigated two areas of detector capabilities: 1) HgI2 and HPGe detector performance necessary to characterize the quality of plutonium and the presence of shielding materials and 2) HgI2 and EMC HPGe detector performance degradation by high noise levels and EMC HPGe …


Parameter Study For Optimizing The Mass Of A Space Nuclear Power System Radiation Shield, Benjamin R. Kowash Mar 2002

Parameter Study For Optimizing The Mass Of A Space Nuclear Power System Radiation Shield, Benjamin R. Kowash

Theses and Dissertations

A parameter study was conducted for a space nuclear reactor radiation shield. The focus of this research was to explore alternatives to current radiation shield designs to reduce the mass while maintaining the same shielding performance. MCNP4C was used to determine the parameters necessary to build an optimum shield. A design known as the split scatter shield offered some potential for reductions in shield mass. In theory, less material is required for this type of shield, which uses thin shield sections to scatter radiation away from the dose plane. The parameters for this shield design are the shield geometry, number …