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At least 757 records · Page 42

Kiwi-TNT Simulation Model [Slides]

The Kiwi-TNT Test (Toonerville Trolley) was performed on January 12, 1965. LANL has the objective: "LANL will develop a defensible methodology for establishing the maximum number of fissions for postulated inadvertent criticality events. The methodology may include several methods, such as hand calculations, sophisticated modeling, and the use of historical data.” The historic test, Kiwi TNT, posed a starting point for predictive simulations to determine the number of fissions and excursion understanding. This presentation gives results of that effort.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Evaluation of Synthetic Diamond Detectors for Fast Neutron and X-ray Detection [Slides]

Element6 has come out of a two year production pause (pre-COVID) with material that lacks their previous QC – some is excellent, but screening is needed. Applied Diamond can now make usable polycrystalline material, for applications not requiring absolute flux calibration. A large area possible (1cm 2 ). Great Lakes Crystal Technology has made great progress in two years, but still needs development to become a trusted supplier of single crystal material. LANL staff (Dongsung Kim) has developed proficient lithography and bonding expertise at CINT to make devices from vendor supplied material. LANL staff has continued and expanded capabilities for device testing at NSLS-II.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Niowave Design and Analysis of a High Power Converter - FY 21

LANL provided support to Niowave Inc. on the design and analysis of the Mk. 4 and Mk. 5, 20 kW converter. The Mk. 4 converter design consisted of lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) flowing over a divider plate to create a waterfall. Niowave, with feedback from LANL, improved on the Mk.4 divider plate and “horn” region of the converter to create the Mk. 5 version of the converter.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Fission In R-process Elements (FIRE) - Quarterly Report (Q2FY22)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory was to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This was be achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration was composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for fission work, BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities received funds from DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories receive funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

CVEN 5899 Internship report

The internship is under the project of Center for Space and Earth Science student fellow program of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The topic of the project is grain-scale prediction of hypervelocity projectile penetration into terrestrial and extraterrestrial granular materials, which is also my PhD research topic. In this research, we would like to use discrete element method (DEM) to simulate the hyper-speed penetration into granular materials and compare with experiment results. The experiment is done by the Proton Radiography (pRad) team of LANL. In the experiment, a jet traveled through the sand with velocity of 4 km/s (fig.1). Our goal is to develop the large deformation constitutive model by the stress and strain upscaling, study the fluid (air) behavior and particle fracture during the hyperspeed penetration.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fission In R-process Elements (FIRE)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory was to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This was achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration was composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for work on nuclear data (ground-state properties, fission, β-decay), BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities received funds from the DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories received funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Fission In R-process Elements (FIRE)

The goal of the FIRE topical collaboration in nuclear theory was to determine the astrophysical conditions of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which is responsible for the formation of heavy elements. This was be achieved by including in r-process simulations the most advanced models of fission (spontaneous, neutron-induced, β-delayed) that have been developed at LLNL and LANL. The collaboration was composed of LLNL (lead) and LANL for fission work, BNL for nuclear data management, and the university of Notre Dame and North Carolina State University for r-process simulations. Under DOE/NNSA agreement, both universities received funds from DOE Office of Science, while national laboratories receive funds directly from NA221.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Granta:MI Record Review Procedure for Materials Testing Projects

This document is intended to serve as a guide for the review of records in LANL’s Weapons Materials Database. Specifically, this guide provides step-by-step instructions for the review of records associated with a materials testing project. This is the type of dataset that testing organizations such as MST-7 & MST-8 at LANL commonly produce for the weapons complex and want to archive in Granta:MI.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

233 U(n,$\gamma$) measurements at LANSCE [Slides]

A new measurement at LANSCE combined DANCE and NEUANCE at the end of 2020 and 2021. The 233 U material was provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (December 2020).Two samples of 10 mg and 20 mg of 233 U have been prepared at LANL by Evelyn M. Bond (December 2020). The experiment was performed in December 2020 and June/July 2021. Data analysis is ongoing to extract capture data knowing fission. LANL is looking forward to delivering the capture/fission ratio from (1-300) keV by the end of the FY2022.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Neutron spectral measurements at the BNL NSLS-II synchrotron facility

During the first week of August 2022, Tim Gildea of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) RP-SVS group performed a series of neutron spectral measurements at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) 3GeV facility located at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL)1 . These measurements were conducted under Memorandum Purchase Order (MPO) 413911 with the objective of gaining an accurate understanding of the photoneutron fields generated under normal and selected fault conditions. The spectral data collected during the course of the study was analyzed at LANL and the results form the basis of this report.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

An Introduction to Los Alamos National Laboratory [Slides]

Slides for a presentation on the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This presentation discusses the origins of Los Alamos National Lab during WWII, some of the projects and challenges that the lab has taken on since its founding, and the history of nuclear weapons technologies at LANL.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Transportation Plan Los Alamos National Laboratory FY2023

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL’s) mission expansion is expected to increase the workforce population (badge holders) to more than 18,000 by 2028. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, traffic congestion was notable and was impeding commuting workers in the forms of traffic congestion, travel delay, inconvenience, frustration, and time lost hunting for parking near an office location or programmatic operation. The Laboratory transportation strategy is moving toward transit-based commuting and not status quo expansion of onsite parking and roadways to serve this growing workforce. This plan addresses a multi-faceted transit and transportation solution. The body of the plan describes each aspect of this solution and concludes with a recommended set of Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) investments planned as next steps toward implementation. The broad strategy is to offer agility and program depth for services and systems that can enable LANL to confidently invest, monitor performance, seek participant feedback, and make necessary adjustments.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

From Protection and Prevention to Research and Discovery: Eligibility Assessment of the Health Research Laboratory (TA-43) and Historic Documentation for TA-43-0001 - Volume 1

The U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Los Alamos Field Office (NA-LA) requests the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) to concur with the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)–eligibility determinations detailed in this report for the Health Research Laboratory (HRL) complex in Technical Area 43 (TA-43) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). As part of the LANL Footprint Reduction Program’s Decommissioning and Demolition (D&D) process, all facilities of the HRL complex are scheduled for characterization and future demolition.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

MCNP ® Particle Transport Code: Its History and Future [Slides]

The history, development and application uses of Monte Carlo particle transport codes at LANL are extensive. Recent and ongoing investments in MCNP modernization are enabling new code developments using modern programming tools and languages. New and challenging applications continue to drive new research and developments beyond the rich set of established MCNP capabilities. The LANL MCNP radiation transport code has been the international gold standard for particle transport applications for over three decades.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Flow Measurements in Pressurized Helium Gas Cooling Channels

Production of metastable Technetium-99 (Tc-99m) is vital to the medical imaging community. It is a radioactive tracer that emits gamma rays as it decays and it is these gamma rays that are then detected through imaging. Tc-99m is extracted from the decay of Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) which has a half-life of about 2-3 days. One method of generating Mo-99 is using accelerator based technology, through the irradiation of Mo-100 using an electron beam. This is part of the NNSA’s mission to produce Mo-99 commercially, within the US, without the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in support of nonproliferation and global security. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working with NorthStar medical Radioisotopes (NMR) on their efforts to produce Mo-99 from the irradiation of Mo-100 targets. The NMR target consists of an Inconel window that allows the electron beam to penetrate and irradiate a stack of Mo-100 discs. The irradiation process generates large amounts of heat and requires extensive cooling of the Mo-100 targets and target housing using pressurized helium gas. Before beam on target, the design of the target stack and target housing is tested at LANL using laser based diagnostics experiments. We quantify the velocity field of the helium gas around the target housing to estimate whether the cooling provided is sufficient for the design and to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. Fiber optic imaging is also developed for use during cold testing (without beam on target) as well as during irradiation, to obtain real time information on disc performance.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Example on how to (intelligently) augment the nuclear-data pipeline with machine learning [Slides]

The presentation discusses how machine learning has helped the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) nuclear-data pipeline. It also discusses the strengths of machine learning as it finds trends in large amounts of data where human brains are overwhelmed and that this information may be crucial to improve our nuclear data. It does stress, however, that machine learning is no "silver bullet" and that it is critical to feed it expert knowledge and use physics intuition to interpret the results. The presentation discusses the need to develop infrastructure and tools to provide data in an easily readable and unambiguously interpretable format (e.g., EXFOR format), to develop experimental data and theory to solve physics questions, and that statisticians and nuclear-data experts must be brought together to correctly interpret the results. The presentation concludes by stating that machine learning is a great tool and that LANL needs to use the algorithms along with developing physics data, tools and infrastructure.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Effects of Borate and Organics on U(VI) Solubility in WIPP Brine

The solubility of uranium (VI) in Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)-relevant brine was determined to support ongoing WIPP recertification activities. This research was performed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Carlsbad Operations (LANL-CO) Actinide Chemistry and Repository Science Program (ACRSP). The WIPP Actinide Source Term Program (ASTP) did not develop a model for the solubility of actinides in the VI oxidation state. The solubility of UO 2 2+ , in the absence of WIPP specific data, is presently set to be equal to a conservatively high 1 mM within the WIPP Performance Assessment (PA) for all expected WIPP conditions (SOTERM, 2019) as selected at the recommendation of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) (EPA, 2005). According to the current WIPP chemistry model assumptions and conditions, the expected pC H+ is about 9.5 and controlled by MgO buffering CO 3 2- . The goal of this study is to perform screening experiments that account for the contributions of organics and borate on uranium solubility. In this report, the solubility of U(VI) was determined at pC H+ 9 WIPP brine in the absence or presence of borate and organics at under-saturation approach. Experiments were equilibrated for about 135 days. Organic compounds present in WIPP waste can form strong complexes with actinides and can affect the oxidation states of actinides. The organic compounds addressed in WIPP performance assessment include EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid), oxalate, citrate, and acetate (SOTERM, 2019). These data quantify the effects of WIPP-relevant concentrations of borate and organics effects on the solubility of U(VI) to challenge the predictions of the WIPP actinide model and inform decisions and recommendations made in the upcoming recertification of the WIPP (CRA-2024). The experiments performed were done according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approved Test Plan entitled “Experimental Strategy to Challenge Actinide Solubility Predictions” and designated LCO-ACP-26. All data reported were obtained under the LANL-CO Quality Assurance Program, which is compliant with the DOE Carlsbad Field Office, Quality Assurance Program Document (CBFO/QAPD) (QAPD, 2017).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗