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McNamara, J. D.

Publications and source records attributed to McNamara, J. D..

Instrumented Lid: Full Instrumentation System Testing

This report describes full system testing of an instrumentation system for the monitoring of aluminum clad spent nuclear fuel (ASNF). The requirements for this system were laid out in a previous document, with respect to former studies, and the details of project actualization were reported. The reader is directed to these references for more background information. In short, a team composed of personnel from Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Idaho National Laboratory have been tasked with the design and fabrication of an instrumented assembly for remote sampling, monitoring, and radiation testing (SMART) for demonstration and surveillance of the dry storage environment and conditions of ASNF in a DOE standardized canister. SRNL proposed the fabrication of two systems to accomplish this goal: 1) an instrumentation system consisting of gas and particle collection, temperature, humidity, pressure, and radiation monitoring; and 2) a lid assembly consisting of a custom-designed lid and hat, together with a custom fuel basket. The corresponding instrumentation system is shown in the piping and instrumentation diagram. The individual functionality tests of the instrument system sensor components were performed, and the results were reported in the report “Instrumented Lid- System Functionality Testing.” Savannah River National Laboratory, September 1, 2019.7 The sensor components of instrumentation system have been mounted and tested in-line with a 6” diameter test canister, and the results are reported in this document.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Novel Perovskite Semiconductors for the Detection of Special Nuclear Material

Special nuclear material (SNM) detection using portable, highly efficient detectors is of paramount importance to national security for treaty verification and nonproliferation monitoring. The most mature technology for neutron detection is the 3He proportional counter; however, despite its high efficiency and ubiquitous use, 3He detectors have significant drawbacks, including long absorption lengths, high voltage requirements, and dependence on the availability of 3 He. The goal of this project is to synthesize a novel, boron-based perovskite semiconductor crystals to create a more efficient and more portable neutron detector. This innovative material will lead to a significant decrease in power and size requirements with higher operating temperatures than other traditional solid-state detectors. Directly incorporating 10 B eliminates the need for a conversion layer and leads to high neutron absorption coefficients. In this seedling project, we successfully synthesized millimeter sized crystals using inverse temperature crystallization with sizes of 1.73 mm in length and 480 μm in thickness.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Instrumented Lid - System Final Design

Work is ongoing to create an instrumented and sampling system for monitoring aluminum clad spent nuclear fuel (ASNF) in dry storage. The anticipated system will be composed of a custom canister assembly and a modular instrument manifold. The conceptual design was first laid out in the Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan (SRNL-RP-2019-00225). In this document, we outline the project progress to date, and describe the final system design.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗