Nuclear Engineering Commons^™

Insen 2023 Yearly Updates, Walid Metwally, Matteo Gerlini, Cristen Ford, João Claudio Batista Fiel J.C.B.F., Dr. Alpana Goel

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The International Nuclear Security Education Network (INSEN) is the primary international network for nuclear security educational initiatives. INSEN plays a central role in fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing among nuclear security education experts worldwide. In the wake of the global pandemic, INSEN remained committed to strengthening nuclear security education and resumed in-person activities. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed its continued dedication and support to the network’s mission and presented new activities aimed at elevating global nuclear security efforts.

Throughout the year and during the annual and leadership meetings, working groups showcased their vibrant work and presented innovative ideas, invigorating …

A Case Study Assessing The Integration Of Nuclear Safety And Security In Facilities Using A Monte Carlo Simulation Aided Analytical Hierarchy Process, Theodore A. Thomas, Shraddha Rane, Jason Timothy Harris

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Nuclear safety and security are essential in all operations using nuclear and radioactive materials. Even though both elements are important, the evolution of these programs has not developed at the same rate. As such, their integration has been met with challenges. This study analyzed the potential for synergy across different criteria and settings when integrating nuclear safety and security. The criteria included eight points where overlap could be identified between nuclear safety and security. Three work settings—industrial, medical, and research—were evaluated. Responses were collected from nine individuals who worked with nuclear materials in various capacities and different nuclear work settings. …

Two-Group Drift-Flux Model For Dispersed Gas-Liquid Flow In Large-Diameter Pipes, Hossein Barati, Takashi Hibiki, Joshua P. Schlegel, Naofumi Tsukamoto

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Interfacial Heat and Mass Transfer Are Prevalent in Industrial Processes. the Interfacial Transfer Rate Can Be Obtained by the Product of their Fluxes and Interfacial Area Concentration (IAC) Calculated by the Interfacial Area Transport Equation (IATE). Bubbles Show Different Behavior According to their Sizes. Hence, Bubbles Are Classified into Two Groups. Consequently, Two-Group IATE is Required Causing to Use of Two Gas Momentum Equations Leading to More Complexity. the Present Study Suggests a New Reliable Two-Group Drift-Flux Modeling to Reduce the Two Gas Momentum Equations to One Gas Mixture Momentum Equation for Gas-Liquid Flow in Large-Diameter Pipes. the Model is …

Characterization Of The Acquisition Parameters Of A Submersible Gamma-Ray Computed Tomography System, Zhongmin Jin

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this work is to study a component of a submersible gamma-ray computed tomography (CT) system used in the non-destructive testing of irradiated nuclear fuels. The first section of this study proposes two acceleration approaches for rapidly modeling a transmission-type gamma-ray tomography system. The first relies on Monte Carlo simulations with a monodirectionally biased source sampled from a sub-volume of the whole source volume. This method estimates the real count rate using analytical correction factors. The second way of acceleration is based on deterministic calculations that use the Beer-Lambert law and detector response characteristics. It shows that both …

Validation Of Athlet With Purdue University Multi-Dimensional Integral Test Assembly (Puma) Test, Emin Fatih Ozdem

Masters Theses

"Following the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) disaster, the development of a diagnostic system for emergency situations in a nuclear power plant was identified as an essential research area to strengthen the safety of nuclear power plants. A real-time estimation system of vital safety parameters on the main side of a PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) facility was investigated since precise post-event scenario estimations are thought to be a crucial component of the diagnostic system. The alarm system of the plant can detect an SB-LOCA (Small Break Loss-Of-Coolant-Accident), but there were a couple of potential long-term transient occurrences. The accident …

Physical Properties Of Copper Niobium Nanolamellar Composites Fabricated By Accumulative Roll Bonding, Jared Justice

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Nanolamellar composites with high interface density have increased strength due to interfaces serving as barriers to dislocation movement and high radiation damage resistance. However, these interfaces also serve as barriers to electron motion, reducing the electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity. This work seeks to understand the inherent tradeoff between strength and physical properties of nanolamellar composites produced by accumulative roll bonding with layer thickness ranging from 25 nm to 193 nm. The electrical resistivity was investigated over temperatures ranging from 2 K to 300 K. The effect of longitudinal rolling and cross rolling was also investigated. Electrical resistivity results were …

Radioactive Waste, Andrii Ligun, Nazifa Afroz

Featured Student Work

The Technical Report addresses the critical issue of nuclear waste management, exploring its sources, challenges, and potential solutions. The report delves into the current state of nuclear waste disposal technologies, emphasizing the need for sustainable and secure practices. Important subjects include the classification of radioactive waste, the consequences of inappropriate disposal for the environment, and an assessment of current disposal techniques. The paper also addresses new disposal techniques and policy issues for the responsible and safe management of radioactive waste. The results highlight the significance of a comprehensive strategy for managing radioactive waste that strikes a balance between public involvement, …

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 …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Nuclear Security Training And Education In Ghana, Michael Nii Sanka Ansah, Boris Stepanov Pavlovich, Paul Atta Amoah, David Okoh Kpeglo, Simon Adu, Bright Kwame Afornu

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Growing attention is being given to nuclear power across several African countries, including in Ghana. The world is depending on nuclear energy as a reliable and efficient means of energy generation. Ghana as a country is developing nuclear energy; thus, equal attention must be directed toward nuclear safety and security. Ghana is gradually developing interest in and is devoting substantial required resources to educating and training on nuclear security to meet the standards required by international bodies. Institutions such as the Nuclear Safety and Security Centre and the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission …

Tests Of A Gamma Spectrometer-Neutron Counter Relationship As A Neutron Alarm Metric In Mobile Radiation Search Systems, Jackson N. Wagner, Craig Marianno

International Journal of Nuclear Security

A mobile radiological search system (MRSS) is frequently used in nuclear security to interdict illicit nuclear material. One difficulty an MRSS faces is in characterizing its detectors’ background responses, particularly in its neutron counter(s). This difficulty adds complications to identifying the presence of neutron-emitting radiological materials during an operation. Fortunately, previous work has identified a power law relationship between muons registered by the MRSS’s gamma detectors and background neutrons. This relationship can be applied to estimate the MRSS’s background neutron count rate using that muon count rate. To test the usability of such an estimate, an MRSS was used to …

Development Of A Portable, Tileable, Dual-Particle Radiography System, Christian Xavier Young

Doctoral Dissertations

A scalable, portable, multi-particle neutron radiography device has been developed using commercial-off-the-shelf-parts. The IDEAS ROSSPAD readout module was selected for use in developing the radiography panel due to its single-wire Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) connectivity and its tileable form factor. Each ROSSPAD detector is paired with an 8 by 8 array of 6-mm-pitch Sensl J-Series silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). With both single and multi-ROSSPAD testing, a detection package consisting of a 3-mm-thick sheet of EJ-200 plastic scintillator and a 3-mm-thick sheet of acrylic light spreader was coupled to the SiPM board face. After both quality assurance of the detector packages and the calibration …

Characterizing The Structure And Radiation Resistance Of Weberite-Type Complex Oxides, Igor M. Gussev

Doctoral Dissertations

Weberite-type A₃BO₇ oxides, where A is a trivalent rare earth and B is a pentavalent element like Ta, have been a focus of research due to the discovery of the weberite-type local atomic arrangement in ceramics with a defect-fluorite structure. Earlier studies primarily examined their long-range structures, leaving gaps in understanding their short-range atomic behavior. This thesis investigates various weberite-type tantalates across all structural scales. There has been debate over the long-range structure of Y₃TaO₇, a medium-sized rare earth tantalate oxide, particularly regarding its spacegroup symmetry. This work identifies Y₃TaO_{7 …}

The Nuclear System-Of-Systems Capabilities Analytic Process, Robert Boone Gilbreath

Doctoral Dissertations

This work includes the first known capabilities-based vulnerability analysis process able to evaluate a system of systems exposed to nuclear weapon environments: the Nuclear System-of-Systems Capabilities Analytic Process (NuSCAPTM). This approach, executed by an automated Python® application, calculates the magnitudes of eight nuclear weapon environment quantities by calling on the US Strategic Command Probability of Damage Calculator (PDCALC) code, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Simple Nuclear Effects Calculator (SNEC) program, and the Monte Carlo N-Particle® (MCNP®) code. Calculated nuclear weapon environment values are compared with user-provided dysfunction thresholds for all components, subsystems, and systems in the model to determine the …

Radiation Exposure Calibration Of The Al2o3:C With Radium-226 And Cesium-137 Using The Osl Method, Selma Tepeli Aydin

All Theses

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimetry was utilized to calibrate Al₂O₃:C powder dosimeters, available commercially as the nanoDot® from Landauer Inc., and compare the dosimeter response to radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) and cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs). The signal from the OSL was quantified using a microSTARii^® OSL reader also produced by Landauer Inc. Dose-response curves were developed for ²²⁶Ra and ¹³⁷Cs experiments (5 dosimeters each) at thirteen absorbed doses. Individual dosimeter response was tracked by serial number. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine if there were significant differences between the intercepts of the …

Preparation Of The Ej301d, A Deuterated Liquid Organic Scintillation Detector, For Spectroscopy Of Fast And High Energy Neutrons, Albert Du

Masters Theses

The focus of this research is on the preparation of a deuterated organic scintillation detector for fast and high energy neutron spectroscopy. The underlying physics of organic scintillation detectors, the process in which a neutron undergoes interaction with the detector material, as well as the readout and data processing procedure is introduced.

For methodology, a comprehensive setup of an EJ301-D deuterated organic scin- tillation detector is detailed. This includes algorithmic development for three distinct purposes. Firstly, it involves the creation of iterative unfolding algorithms, specif- ically the GRAVEL and Maximum Likelihood Expectation-Maximization (MLEM)

algorithm. The second development is conformal binning …

Uncertainty Quantification Framework For Design Optimization, Austin Ryan Williams

Masters Theses

Difficulty to obtain neutron sources of interest have driven the need for optimization
techniques to tailor a neutron generator as a replacement. A proposed solution uses
off-the-shelf neutron sources coupled with an energy-tuning assembly to mimic the
source of interest (i.e. AmLi, AmBe, thermonuclear fission spectra, etc.). These
energy-tuning assemblies have been designed with complex optimization algorithms
coupled with Monte Carlo simulations. These new system surrogate designs often
do not have an experimental counterpart for validation and comparison, and lack
non-statistical uncertainties. This work aims to improve confidence in the predictions
by providing a tool for fast uncertainty quantification to …

Improving Our Vision Ii: Building Transparency And Cooperation, Eisenhower Center For Space And Defense Studies

Space and Defense

Workshop on Space Situational Awareness Data Sharing Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies World Security Institute’s Center for Defense Information Secure World Foundation London, United Kingdom, October 2007

This was the second workshop to bring together a range of stakeholders to discuss global needs and capabilities for Space Situational Awareness (SSA). The first workshop was held in September 2006 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This 2006 workshop was sponsored by the Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies and the World Security Institute’s Center for Defense Information. The 2006 workshop report can be found at the following internet site: http://www.cdi.org/PDFs/SSAConference_screen. …

Space Based Solar Power Workshop, Eisenhower Center For Space And Defense Studies

Space and Defense

Preventing resource conflicts in the face of increasing global populations and demands in the 21st century is a high priority for the United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DOD). All solution options to these challenges should be explored, including opportunities from space.

Future Of Space Commerce Workshop: Reducing Risks And Fostering Partnerships – Synergies Between Civil, Military, Commercial, And New Space, Eisenhower Center For Space And Defense Studies

Space and Defense

Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies Futron Corporation NASA Ames Research Center Breckenridge, Colorado, August 2007

The Future of Space Commerce Workshop brought together participants from the civil, military, commercial, and new space sectors, and relevant academic, consulting, business, and financial organizations to discuss and explore how risks associated with space commerce development can be reduced, and to examine synergies to strengthen and advance partnerships between the sectors. The workshop was hosted by the United States (U.S.) Air Force Academy Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies in cooperation with Futron Corporation and NASA Ames Research Center.

China Working Group: China, Space, And Strategy, Eisenhower Center For Space And Defense Studies

Space and Defense

Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Air University Keystone, Colorado, June 2007

Chinese advances in its space program in recent years has led to a growing international interest in the implications of Chinese programs in the civil, military, and commercial space sectors. This workshop, sponsored by the United States (U.S.) Air Force Academy Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies and the Air University School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, brought together a community of experts and policy-makers to discuss the implications of current and future Chinese space developments on space …