Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of Dose Coefficients For Radionulides Produced In Spallation Neutron Sources: Annual Report, Phillip W. Patton, Mark Rudin

Transmutation Sciences Physics (TRP)

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Transmutation Research Program has been tasked to support U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) efforts to assess the health risks associated with the operation of each of their accelerator-driven nuclear facilities for both NEPA and PSAR development. Quantifying the radiological risks to workers will have to be addressed during the design and siting of each of these facilities. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Federal Guidance Report No. 11 “Limiting Values of Intake and Air Concentration and Dose Conversion Factors for Inhalation, Submersion, and Ingestion”, developed two derived guides, Annual Limit on Intake (ALI) and …

Development Of Dose Conversion Coefficients For Radionuclides Produced In Spallation Neutron Sources, Phillip W. Patton, Mark Rudin

Transmutation Sciences Physics (TRP)

For the first year of this effort, the UNLV research team set out four objectives. First, the university and laboratory consortium had to be established. This consortium was tasked with helping to determine the methodology for determining the dose coefficients, and to ensure that the resulting DCs will be of use to the national programs developing accelerator-driven nuclear systems (such as the SNS or an accelerator-driven transmutation system) and to the health physics community as a whole. The second goal of this program was to determine a methodology and then prioritize the radionuclides so that the research effort would address …

An Interdatabase Comparison Of Nuclear Decay And Structure Data Utilized In The Calculation Of Dose Coefficients For Radionuclides Produced In A Spallation Neutron Source, John P. Shanahan, K. Eckerman, A. Arndt, C. Gold, Phillip W. Patton, Mark Rudin, R. Brey, T. Gesell, V. Rusetski, S. Pagava

Transmutation Sciences Physics (TRP)

Internal and external dose coefficient values have been calculated for 14 anthropogenic radionuclides which are not currently presented in Federal Guidance Reports Nos. 11, 12, and 13 or Publications 68 and 72 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Internal dose coefficient values are reported for inhalation and ingestion of 1 μm and 5 μm AMAD particulates along with the f₁ values and absorption types for the adult worker. Internal dose coefficient values are also reported for inhalation and ingestion of 1 μm AMAD particulates as well as the f₁ values and absorption types for members of the …

Corrosion Of Steel By Lead Bismuth Eutectic: Year 1 Annual Report, John Farley

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The goal is to investigate the corrosion of stainless steel by lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE), which has been proposed for use as a blanket coolant and a spallation target in the transmuter.

Corrosion Of Steel By Lead Bismuth Eutectic, John Farley, Dale L. Perry, Allen L. Johnson

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

This research program will analyze various steel samples that have been exposed to LBE as part of the national program to develop LBE and transmutation technologies. This information will be paramount in developing engineering efforts to control, avoid, and/or minimize the effect of corrosion of steels by LBE in transmuter and LBE systems. Additionally, this program provides UNLV researchers with hands-on experience that will be crucial in developing the UNLV LBE program, supporting the University’s mission with the ISTC target complex, and the future development of additional facilities to examine LBE systems.

The research group plans to test the hypothesis …

Radiation Transport Modeling Of Beam-Target Experiments, William Culbreth, Denis Beller

Reactor Campaign (TRP)

In the first year of the UNLV effort, researchers planned to develop the models of the experimental systems to predict the neutron flux and leakage from the experimental targets using the MCNPX code suite in order to help determine these missing parameters. To support these models, the researchers project, or estimate, values for the unknown parameters describing various events and phenomena occurring within the beam-target experiment. The results of these simulations will then be compared against the observed neutron leakage rates and energies. The estimates for the unknown parameters are then revised to correlate with the observed values (these parameters …

Project Continuation Proposal: Radiation Transport Modeling Of Beam-Target Experiments For The Aaa Project, William Culbreth

Reactor Campaign (TRP)

The AAA program will rely on the use of an accelerator-based transmuter1 to expose spent nuclear fuel to high-energy neutrons. The neutron flux will be sufficient to activate or fission the long-lived isotopes of Tc, I, Pu, Am, Cm, and Np that present a significant radiological hazard in commercial spent fuel. Transmuter fuel will be subcritical and a high-energy proton accelerator is needed to maintain the necessary neutron flux through the use of a neutron spallation target. The maximum neutron energy produced by spallation (~ 800 MeV) is significantly higher than that produced by a commercial light water reactor (~ …

Design And Analysis Of A Process For Melt Casting Metallic Fuel Pins Incorporating Volatile Actinides, Yitung Chen, Darrell Pepper, Randy Clarksean

Fuels Campaign (TRP)

The Transmutation Research Program requires the incorporation of non-fertile actinides into the fuel matrix for the transmuter blanket. One of three currently proposed candidate matrices for the transmuter blanket is a metallic alloy fuel matrix. Metallic fuels are an outstanding candidate for a transmutation fuel due to excellent irradiation performance and ease of fabrication. However, including a volatile constituent during fabrication of these fuel pins presents a challenge. High vapor pressure actinides, particularly americium, are susceptible to rapid vaporization and transport using traditional metal fuel casting processes. As a result, only a fraction of the desired charge is incorporated into …

Exploring The Limits Of The Dipole Approximation With Angle-Resolved Electron Time-Of-Flight Spectrometry, Sierra Laidman, Monica Pangilinan, Renaud Guillemin, Sung Woo Yu, Gunnar Ohrwall, Dennis W. Lindle, Oliver Hemmers

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Understanding the electronic structure of atoms and molecules is fundamental in determining their basic properties as well as the interactions that occur with different particles such as light. One such interaction is single photoionization; a process in which a photon collides with an atom or molecule and an electron with a certain kinetic energy is emitted, leaving behind a residual ion. Theoretical models of electronic structures use the dipole approximation to simplify x-ray interactions by assuming that the electromagnetic field of the radiation, expressed as a Taylor-series expansion, can be simplified by using only the first term. It has been …

University Of Nevada, Las Vegas Transmutation Research Program Annual Report 2001, Anthony Hechanova, Elizabeth Johnson, Gary Cerefice

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

The UNLV Transmutation Research Program was established in March 2001 as part of the national Advanced Accelerator Applications program to develop the technologies necessary for the ecological and economical treatment of spent nuclear fuel.

The primary role of the UNLV program in the national effort is the training of graduate and undergraduate students in nuclear engineering and other related fields to support the augmentation of the U.S. human infrastructure for transmutation technologies.

To accomplish this role, UNLV has developed the TRP with the primary focus of supporting student research into transmutation and supporting technologies. This focus is realized through the …