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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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• Helium-3 is a vital commodity in both medical and defense applications • Ultra-low cryogenic coolant (MRI imaging, etc.) • Neutron detectors • Being investigated as possible fusion fuel • Managed and distributed by DOE-OS • New PDRD project exploring helium isotope separation • Limited supply • Only available from tritium decay • Prohibitively difficult to separate from helium-4 • SRS Tritium Facility provides a steady source
Mean lives of upper decay levels of lithium isotopes accelerated by electromagnetic isotope separator and directed through thin carbon foil
Galactic cosmic rays, discussing chemical composition, isotopic separation, proton and alpha particles energy spectra, propagation, interactions, etc
Chemical scandium isotope separation from calcium compounds containing radioactive calcium 48
Branching ratios to excited nuclear states formed after muon capture have been measured with Ge(Li) detectors. The delayed gamma rays were observed in studies of muonic Ce-142, Ce-140, Ba-138, and Sn-120, using separated isotopes. The resulting isotopes formed indicate at least a 60% probability of neutron emission upon muon capture, with the most likely product resulting from single-neutron emission. No evidence for delayed proton emission with a probability higher than 2% was found. Using our more precise energies for the observed nuclear transitions, we present revised energy levels schemes for La-141, La-139, Cs-137, and In-119.
The operating principle and application of superconducting magnetic spectrometers for cosmic ray analysis are described. Magnetic spectrometer experiments are thought to be possible in the areas of charge composition and its possible energy dependence, isotopic separation up to several GeV/n, electrons and positrons energy spectra, galactic secondary antiprotons, searches for primordial antimatter, searches for substructure in energy spectra, and gamma ray astronomy. Operational problems associated with the magnets are discussed, and a possible shuttle payload is also described.
Fast flow can be used to create the population inversion required for lasing action, or can be used to improve laser operation, for example by the removal of waste heat. It is pointed out that at the present time all lasers which are capable of continuous high-average power employ flow as an indispensable aspect of operation. High power laser systems are discussed, taking into account the gasdynamic laser, the HF supersonic diffusion laser, and electric discharge lasers. Aerodynamics and high power lasers are considered, giving attention to flow effects in high-power gas lasers, aerodynamic windows and beam manipulation, and the Venus machine. Applications of high-power laser technology reported are related to laser material working, the employment of the laser in controlled fusion machines, laser isotope separation and photochemistry, and laser power transmission.
An electrical discharge between two ring electrodes embedded in the mantle of a cylindrical chamber is considered, in which the plasma in the anode and cathode regions rotates in opposite directions under the influence of an external axial magnetic field. The associated boundary-value problem for the coupled partial differential equations describing the azimuthal velocity and radial current-density fields is solved in closed form. The velocity, current density, induced magnetic induction, and electric fields are presented for typical Hartmann numbers, magnetic Reynolds numbers, and geometry parameters. The discharge is shown to produce anodic and cathodic plasma sections rotating at speeds of the order 1,000,000 cm/sec for conventional magnetic field intensities. Possible application of the magnetoactive discharge as a plasma centrifuge for isotope separation is discussed.
The He-3/He-4 abundance ratio above 11 GV has been measured with a balloon-borne experiment that employs the geomagnetic method of isotope separation near earth's equator. Above a kinetic energy of approximately 6 GeV per nucleon, the He-3/He-4 ratio is measured to be 0.24 + or - 0.05 under the assumption that the helium spectrum at earth is a power law in rigidity of the form R to the -2.65th. The implied interstellar mean escape pathlength of about 15 g per sq cm, with this assumption, is considerably greater than values determined from observations of heavier elements. Propagation models more complex than the standard simple leaky box would be required to simultaneously understand the propagation of both the lighter and heavier components of cosmic rays.
A technique for the generation of fast atomic oxygen was developed. These atoms are created by ion beam sputtering from metal oxide surfaces. Mass resolved ion beams at energies up to 60 KeV are produced for this purpose using a 150 cm isotope separator. Studies have shown that particles sputtered with 40 KeV Ar(+) on Ta2O5 were dominantly neutral and exclusively atomic. The atomic oxygen also resided exclusively in its 3P ground state. The translational energy distribution for these atoms peaked at ca 7 eV (the metal-oxygen bond energy). Additional measurements on V2O5 yielded a bimodal distribution with the lower energy peak at ca 5 eV coinciding reasonably well with the metal-oxygen bond energy. The 7 eV source was used to investigate fast oxygen atom reactions with the 2-butene stereoisomers. Relative excitation functions for H-abstraction and pi-bond reaction were measured with trans-2-butene. The abstraction channel, although of minor relative importance at thermal energy, becomes comparable to the addition channel at 0.9 eV and dominates the high-energy regime. Structural effects on the specific channels were also found to be important at high energy.
Proposed sorption refrigeration system of increased power efficiency combines MnxNy sorption refrigeration stage with systems described in "Regenerative Sorption Refrigerator" (NPO-17630). Measured pressure-vs-composition isotherms for reversible chemisorption of N2 in MnxNy suggest feasibility to incorporate MnxNy chemisorption stage in Joule-Thomson cryogenic system. Discovery represents first known reversible nitrogen chemisorption compression system. Has potential in nitrogen-isotope separation, nitrogen purification, or contamination-free nitrogen compression.
Early efforts for producing expert systems for engineering applications used a limited subset of C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) features. The implementation details of previous expert systems and of the current expert system, which is used for training operators in the control of the Isotope Separation System, are discussed.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a Department of Energy contractor, managed by the University of California since 1952. Major projects at the Laboratory include the Strategic Defense Initiative, nuclear weapon design, magnetic and laser fusion, laser isotope separation, and weather modeling. The Laboratory employs about 8,000 people. There are two major computer centers: The Livermore Computer Center and the National Energy Research Supercomputer Center. As we increase the computing capacity of LLNL systems and develop new applications, the need for archival capacity will increase. Rather than quantify that increase, I will discuss the hardware and software architectures that we will need to support advanced applications.
This presentation reviews concerns involving advanced propulsion systems. The problems involved with the use of Am-242m, is that it has a high "eta" plus an order of magnitude larger fission cross section than other fissionable materials, and that it is extremely rare. However other americium isotopes are much more common, but extremely effective isotopic separation is required. Deuterium-Tritium fusion is also not attractive for space propulsion applications. Because the pulsed systems cannot breed adequate amounts of tritium and it is difficult and expensive to bring tritium from Earth. The systems that do breed tritium have severely limited performance. However, other fusion processes should still be evaluated. Another problem with advanced propellants is that inefficiencies in converting the total energy generated into propellant energy can lead to tremendous heat rejection requirements. Therefore Many. advanced propulsion concepts benefit greatly from low-mass radiators.
Radio-chronometric studies on plutonium (Pu) materials require independent measurement of the Pu (parent) content and isotopic distribution as well as concentration and isotopic distribution of the plutonium isotopic decay products. We performed a series of experiments to demonstrate the consistency of separations using the Lewatit MP 800 macroporous anion exchange resin and the AG MP-1M resin with traceable Pu isotopic certified reference material (CRM) standards 136, 137, 138, and 126-A. Two different mesh-sizes of the AG MP-1M resin were tested and the 50–100 mesh size resin was found to work more efficiently for the separation task. Both Lewatit and AG MP-1M resins were found to perform satisfactorily for quantitatively extracting the americium (Am) and uranium (U) progeny as well as gallium (Ga) present as a tracer in the Pu material. Both resins were effective in removing isobaric interferences from the Pu fraction used in isotopic measurements by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). To address the co-elution of uranium and gallium, Alizarin red S (ARS) was used as a colorimetric dye to determine the behavior of UO 2 2+ and Ga 3+ on AG MP-1M resin with various acidic solutions as eluents using UV–vis spectra. Poor resolution of these peaks complicated quantitative analysis by UV–vis spectroscopy, but these results were informative in planning automated separation experiments by HPLC. LA-UR-24-28919.
The measurement of radioactive fission products from nuclear events has important implications for nuclear data production, environmental monitoring, and nuclear forensics. In a previous paper, the authors reported the optimization of an intra-group lanthanide separation using LN extraction resin from Eichrom Technologies®, Inc. and a nitric acid gradient. In this work, the method was demonstrated for the separation and quantification of multiple short-lived fission product lanthanide isotopes from a fission product sample produced from the thermal irradiation of highly enriched uranium. The separations were performed in parallel in quadruplicate with reproducible results and high decontamination factors for 153 Sm, 156 Eu, and 161 Tb. Based on the results obtained here, the fission yields for 144 Ce, 153 Sm, 156 Eu, and 161 Tb are consistent with published fission yields. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of the separations for the intended application of short-lived lanthanide fission product analysis requiring high decontamination factors.
Abstract The increasing significance of barium (Ba) in environmental and geologic research in recent years has led to interest in the application of the Ba isotopic composition as a tracer for natural materials with complex matrices. Most Ba isotope measurement techniques require separation of Ba from the rest of sample prior to analysis. This paper presents a method using readily available materials and disposable columns that effectively separates Ba from a range of geologic and hydrologic materials, including carbonate minerals, silicate rocks, barite, river water, and fluids with high total dissolved solids and organic content such as oil and gas brines, rapidly and without need for an additional cleanup column. The technique involves off-the-shelf columns and cation exchange resin and a two-reagent elution that uses 2.5 N HCl followed by addition of 2.0 N HNO 3 . We present data to show that major matrix elements from almost any natural material are separated from Ba in a single column pass, and that the method also effectively reduces or eliminates isobaric interferences from lanthanum and cerium.
Scandium-47 ( 47 Sc) can be used in nuclear medicine as a therapeutic-diagnostic, or "theragnostic," radioactive medical isotope for cancer detection and treatment. The 47 Sc isotope can be produced through the photonuclear reaction 48 Ti(γ,p) 47 Sc by irradiating enriched 48 Ti target material. The enriched target material necessary for production is costly; 48 TiO 2 costs ~ $\$$1550/g, and targets can be > 50 g ($\$$77,500) to produce medically relevant amounts of 47 Sc. In order to keep costs low, a highly efficient separation of scandium from bulk titanium is desired, along with efficient methods for recycling the target material. Here this research is focused on evaluating efficient methods for the separation of scandium from bulk quantities of titanium using commercially available diglycolamide-based and hydroxamate-based extraction chromatography resins (DGA resin and ZR resin, respectively). The sorption of 47 Sc and Ti on these resins were investigated at varying concentrations of HNO 3 , HCl, H 2 SO 4 , and HF to explore how they might be used in a large-scale production/processing setting.