Physics Commons^™

Spectroscopic Methods Of Process Monitoring For Safeguards Of Used Nuclear Fuel Separations, Jamie Lee Warburton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

To support the demonstration of a more proliferation-resistant nuclear fuel processing plant, techniques and instrumentation to allow the real-time, online determination of special nuclear material concentrations in-process must be developed. An ideal materials accountability technique for proliferation resistance should provide nondestructive, realtime, on-line information of metal and ligand concentrations in separations streams without perturbing the process. UV-Visible spectroscopy can be adapted for this precise purpose in solvent extraction-based separations.

The primary goal of this project is to understand fundamental URanium EXtraction (UREX) and Plutonium-URanium EXtraction (PUREX) reprocessing chemistry and corresponding UV-Visible spectroscopy for application in process monitoring for safeguards. By …

Neutron Diffraction Of Nabd4: Phase Transition, Rietveld Structure Refinements, And Equation Of State, Guillermo Esparza, Esparza, Patricia Kalita, Andrew Cornelius

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

NaBH4 is a hydride with possible applications as a hydrogen storage material for future renewable energy technologies. It’s dehydrogenation properties are enhanced with the mixture of particular catalysts through ball-milling techniques during which local pressures may exceed several GPa’s. It is for this reason that understanding the behavior of pressure induced phase changes of its crystalline unit cell is an area of interest.

Extraction Chromatographic Studies Of Rutherfordium And Dubnium Homologs, Megan E. Bennett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Studying the chemistry of transactinide elements does not only allow for these elements to be properly placed in the Periodic Table, but it also permits for the extrapolation of the electronic structure based upon the position of the element in the Periodic Table. In addition it enable for the assessment of the role that relativistic effects play in the chemical behavior of the heaviest elements. An improved understanding of the role of relativistic effects in chemistry of the heaviest elements allows for a better understanding of the fundamentals principles that govern the Periodic Table. In order to investigate the chemistry …

Structure Studies On Lanthanide Technetium Pyrochlores As Prospective Host Phases To Immobilize 99- Technetium And Fission Lanthanides From Effluents Of Reprocessed Used Nuclear Fuels, Thomas Hartmann, Ariana Alaniz

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

We performed a systematic investigation of the incorporation of 99Tc into pyrochlore oxide structures, Ln2Tc2O7, where Ln represents trivalent lanthanide Ln3+ cations, while 99Tc is atetravalent, Tc4+, metal cation. Pyrochlore compounds are high-melting temperature oxides and are recognized for their durability. Our goal in this preliminary study is to characterize and quantify the range of stability of the lanthanum technetium pyrochlore oxide phase. Hereby, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld analysis were used to determine and characterize the crystalline phase content with high accuracy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the microstructure and homogeneity of the synthesized …