Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Dynamics Modeling Of Molten Salt Reactors, Visura Umesh Pathirana

Doctoral Dissertations

The abundance of energy is a necessity for the prosperity of humans. The rise in energy demand has created energy shortages and issues related to energy security. Nuclear energy can produce vast amounts of reliable energy without many of the negative externalities associated with other competing energy sources, such as coal and natural gas. As a result, public interest in nuclear power has increased in the past decade. Many new types of nuclear reactor are proposed. These nuclear reactor designs feature many passive technologies that can operate without external influence. Reactors that feature advanced passive safety features are catagorized as …

Decomposition Approach To Parametric Nonconvex Regression; Nuclear Resonance Analysis, Jordan L. Armstrong

Masters Theses

Parameterized nonconvex regression is a difficult problem for any optimization solver packages, often resulting in approximations and linearizations of the problem in order to be able to arrive a solution, if the problem is even solvable at all. These changes to the initial problem are largely dependent upon having appropriate domain knowledge and still often times result in a sizable gap between the achieved solution and the best true solution. We propose a novel method of decomposing the global problem into small, overlapping windows. Thus, the independent windows are now solvable. Subsequently, we offer a novel, sequential method of parameter …

Thorium Dioxide Extraction From Monazite Ore, Jason Pan, Niall Phelan Terry, Katherine Glass, Eli Jenkins, Connor High

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Case Study: The First Coastal Nuclear Decommissioning Project In California, Willie Aaron Quiros

Construction Management

San Onofre Nuclear Generating System (SONGS) is one of two nuclear power plants in California. Since the shut down in 2012, there is only one actively remaining, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, which is set to shut down in 2024. This paper will examine the decommissioning of SONGS thus far; the first coastal nuclear decommissioning project in California’s stringent permitting process. This project was awarded as a joint venture to AECOM and Energy Solutions, both having experiencing in the field of nuclear decommissioning. This paper will outline what nuclear decommissioning challenges have been in the past; general steps of decommissioning …

Case Study On The Development Of Engineering Design Modification Projects For U.S. Nuclear Power Plants: A Knowledge Retention Tool In Support Of The Longevity And Resilience Of The Nuclear Power Industry, Pamela M. Torres-Jiménez

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The nuclear power industry in the United States (U.S.) has gone through various changes throughout its history. Most recently, plans to grow the industry through the construction of new power plants have ceased. Because of this, the industry is at a period where the longevity and resilience of existing nuclear power plants are vital to its subsistence.

One of the ways existing nuclear power plants can assure longevity and resilience is by performing engineering design modifications efficiently and at a lower cost. Strategic plans, such as the Delivering the Nuclear Promise, can support nuclear utilities to achieve this. Another strategy …

Thermal Kinetics Of Helium Irradiation Hardening In Selected Alloys For The Canadian Gen. Iv Nuclear Reactor Concept, Feifei Nie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, we present nano-indentation measurements performed to quantify the increase in hardness as a result of He⁺ and Fe⁴⁺ implantation in both Inconel 800H and AISI 310 alloys. After annealing, the softening rate of He⁺ and Fe⁴⁺ implanted samples were compared, and it is found that Ni can slow the helium diffusion. Thermal activation energy Q characterizing this process was similar to the computed thermal activation energy Q_He for interstitial helium diffusion within pure nickel. Indentation hardness tests were also performed at various indentation strain rates, to further study the effect of implanted …

An Exact Analysis For Four-Order Acousto-Optic Bragg Diffraction Which Incorporates Both Incident Light Angle And Sound Frequency Dependencies, Adeyinka Sunday Ademola

Electrical Engineering Theses

This thesis extends the prior work which produced an exact solution to the four-order acousto-optic (AO) Bragg cell with assumed fixed center frequency and with exact Bragg angle incident light. The extension predicts the model that incorporates the dependencies of both the input angle of light and the sound frequency. Specifically, a generalized 4^th order linear differential equation (DE), is developed from a simultaneous analysis of four coupled AO system of DEs. Through standard methods, the characteristic roots, which requires solving a quartic equation, is produced. Subsequently, a derived system of homogeneous solutions, which absorbs the roots obtained using …

Development Of Instrumentation And Control Systems For An Integral Large Scale Pressurized Water Reactor, Matthew Rowland Morrow Lish

Doctoral Dissertations

Small and large scale integral light water reactors are being developed to supply electrical power and to meet the needs of process heat, primarily for water desalination. This dissertation research focuses on the instrumentation and control of a large integral inherently safe light water reactor (designated as I²S-LWR) which is being designed as part of a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy Integrated Research Project (IRP). This 969 MWe integral pressurized water reactor (PWR) incorporates as many passive safety features as possible while maintaining competitive costs with current light water reactors. In support of this work, the …

Using Mavt To Incorporate Public Perception When Choosing A Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Stephen Clement

Theses and Dissertations

Nuclear energy is a source of carbon free power. With many countries striving to make deep carbon cuts in their energy sectors, nuclear energy could be a large part of the solution. One of the main obstacles standing in the way of the use of nuclear energy is the issue of used nuclear fuel disposal. According to the NEI, the U.S. creates about 2000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel per year and has generated around 76,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel over the last 4 decades. While there are technical problems that need to be solved, it is …

Safety Culture Monitoring: A Management Approach For Assessing Nuclear Safety Culture Health Performance Utilizing Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis, James Harold Warren Jr.

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Nuclear power plants are among the most technologically complex of all energy facilities. This complexity reflects the precision needed in design, maintenance and operations to harness the energy of the atom safely, reliably and economically. Nuclear energy thus requires consistent, high levels of organizational performance by the highly skilled professionals who operate and maintain nuclear power plants (Nuclear Energy Institute [NEI], 2014, p. 1).

A key element for achieving consistent, high levels of performance in a nuclear organization is its safety culture. Nuclear safety culture is for an organization what character and personality is for an individual: a feature that …

Robust Multichannel Functional-Data-Analysis Methods For Data Recovery In Complex Systems, Jian Sun

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, Condition Monitoring (CM), which can be performed via several sensor channels, has been recognized as an effective paradigm for failure prevention of operational equipment or processes. However, the complexity caused by asynchronous data collection with different and/or time-varying sampling/transmission rates has long been a hindrance in the effective use of multichannel data in constructing empirical models. The problem becomes more challenging when sensor readings are incomplete. Traditional sensor data recovery techniques are often prohibited in asynchronous CM environments, not to mention sparse datasets. The proposed Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA) methodologies, e.g., nonparametric FPC model and semi-parametric …

Multi-Modular Integral Pressurized Water Reactor Control And Operational Reconfiguration For A Flow Control Loop, Sergio Ricardo Pereira Perillo

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focused on the IRIS design since this will likely be one of the designs of choice for future deployment in the U.S and developing countries. With a net 335 MWe output IRIS novel design falls in the “medium” size category and it is a potential candidate for the so called modular reactors, which may be appropriate for base load electricity generation, especially in regions with smaller electricity grids, but especially well suited for more specialized non-electrical energy applications such as district heating and process steam for desalination. The first objective of this dissertation is to evaluate and quantify …

A Safeguards Design Strategy For Domestic Nuclear Materials Processing Facilities., Jonathan Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The outdated and oversized nuclear manufacturing complex within the United States requires its transformation into a smaller, safe, and secure enterprise. Health and safety risks, environmental concerns, and the end of the Cold War have all contributed to this necessity. The events of September 11, 2001, emphasized the protection requirements for nuclear materials within the U.S. as well as abroad.

Current Nuclear Safeguards regulations contain minimal prescriptive requirements relating to the design of new production facilities. Project management and engineering design guides require that design documents contain specific and measureable statements relating to systems requirements. The systems engineering process evaluates …

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model For Chemical Separation Process, Lijian Sun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis is concerned with the efforts to develop a general-purpose systems engineering model software TRPSEMPro1 that can be used to improve productivity in the design process. Different features of TRPSEMPro will be presented in this thesis. First, Systems Engineering technology is presented, followed by the exposition of different numerical optimization technologies and DOE (Design of Experiments) study technologies. Second, the detailed software process, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOA&D) for the TRPSEMPro is presented. All the design data models are expressed by using Unified Modeling Language (UML).

AMUSESimulator is another software package which has been designed and implemented in order …