SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Zirconium present in large quantities in criticality safety applications such as fuel manufacturing and processing facilities, and in commercial thermal nuclear reactors. ICSBEP lacks benchmarks optimized for zirconium sensitivity to validate zirconium evaluations. Evaluators lack isotopic differential nuclear data in regions of high importance to fission systems.
It is shown that superheavy elements may also be formed in the main r process responsible for the formation of the heaviest elements observed in nature. Under conditions of a high neutron density, the nucleosynthesis region lies close to the neutron drip line, so that the r process may circumvent the region where nuclei undergo spontaneous fissions and therefore have short lifetimes. However, a high induced-fission rate, which increases with the charge number, may prevent the nucleosynthesis wave from overcoming the region of isotopes heavier than curium, and the beta-decay chain leading to an increase in the charge number of product elements inevitably results in the spontaneous fission of the majority of product nuclei. Calculations of nucleosynthesis that were performed with available nuclear data within the scenario of a neutron-star merger reveal that only Z < 106 superheavy elements are formed. Their abundance at the end of the r process is commensurate with the abundance of uranium, but their lifetime does not exceed several years, so that they fast undergo decay.
The evaluated γ-ray branching ratio values after the decay of 156 Eu are based on measurements done in the 1960s and 1970s which improve upon measurements done back in the 1950s. These experiments, while improving on each other, were not able to produce nearly pure samples and impurities produced along with the sample ( 152 Eu, 154 Eu, and 155 Eu) interfered with the study of the beta spectrum for 156Eu. The values for the branching ratios of 156 Eu from National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) [4] have uncertainties of ranging from 7-14% for the 10 most intense γ rays and up to 30% for the weaker ones. This work aims to improve the precision on the majority of these γ-ray branches.
A depletion solver has been implemented in OpenMC and is described herein. The depletion solver is implemented in Python and interfaces with OpenMC’s transport solver through a C++ application programming interface, which enables an in-memory transport-depletion coupling. Multiple integration methods for advancing in time have been implemented and exhibit tradeoffs in cost, accuracy, and memory use. For all time integration methods, evaluation of the matrix exponential is performed by using the incomplete partial fraction form of the Chebyshev rational approximation method. Simulations of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) pincell and a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) assembly were carried out with OpenMC and Serpent. For both problems, the use of a high-fidelity depletion chain results in predictions of k eff that agree within 20–30 pcm between OpenMC and Serpent. Predicted actinide concentrations were found to agree to a fraction of a percent, and most fission product concentrations were found to agree within 1%. Here, the few cases where larger differences were observed can be attributed either to differences in how the energy dependence of fission product yields is handled or deficiencies in the nuclear data used. OpenMC simulations of the PWR and SFR problems using a simplified 228-nuclide depletion chain demonstrate that it achieves accuracy close to that of the full, high-fidelity depletion chain with respect to the studied responses.
A single crystal chemical vapor deposited (sCVD) diamond detector is used as an active target to measure neutron-induced reactions on natural carbon using the neutrons produced by spallation, with a broad energy spectrum at LANSCE. Additionally, the neutron-induced reactions are detected in the diamond as low as E n = 400 keV and up to approximately 100 MeV. Relative cross sections for C 12 ( n , α 0 ) , C 12 ( n , p 0 ) , C 12 ( n , d 0 + p 1 ) , and C 13 ( n , α 0 ) are reported up to E n = 22 MeV and comparisons on detected pulse-height spectra and detector response of scattering reactions are made with GEANT4 simulations using the ENDF/B-VIII.0 evaluated nuclear data library up to 20 MeV. The results are compared with past experimental data, including other works that incorporate diamond detectors as an active carbon target. In addition, R-matrix calculations for the C 13 + n system are presented.
In this study, the 236 U(n,γ) reaction cross section has been measured for the incident neutron energy range from 10 eV to 800 keV by using the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) γ-ray calorimeter at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The cross section was determined with the ratio method, which is a technique that uses the 235 U(n,f) reaction as a reference. The results of the experiment are reported in the resolved and unresolved resonance energy regions. Individual neutron resonance parameters were obtained below 1 keV incident energy by using the R-matrix code sammy. The cross section in the unresolved resonance region is determined with improved experimental uncertainty. Lastly, it agrees with both ENDF/B-VII.1 and JEFF-3.2 nuclear data libraries. In conclusion, the results above 10 keV agree better with the JEFF-3.2 library.
The assessment of neutron data requires understanding the uncertainty. The uncertainty of the final quantities of interest, neutron multiplication and mass, is a combination of many other uncertainties because it is a combination of many other variables. The equations for the values of neutron multiplication and mass are quite complex. The relations between the many contributing variables and their uncertainties are complicated leading to complications in combining them. Additionally, some are statistical in nature, while others are systematic. In an effort to better understand and quantify the total uncertainty in neutron multiplication and SNM mass, they have been subdivided into four categories: setup, detector response, nuclear data, and object characterization. This paper discusses the four categories and what types of uncertainties are in each of them. This effort attempts to generalize this process for any neutron detector, but many of our examples show the Next Generation Multiplicity Detector (MC-15).
IER-551 or the Experiment for Unresolved Resonance Of Plutonium Actinides (EUROPA), is an experiment campaign to design and execute a series of true intermediate energy plutonium critical configurations. EUROPA is a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) to validate current and future evaluations of 239,240 Pu isotopes. Preliminary designs were optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization to save on computation time and the configuration with highest percentage of intermediate neutrons causing fission found was BeO-Cd. This combination has over 70% of fissions occurring from intermediate energy neutrons. Secondary considerations regarding end benchmark uncertainties and quality of nuclear data resulted in a beryllium metal only experiment proposed as the final system. This final preliminary design achieves 68% intermediate fissions, sensitivities of fission and capture cross sections of 239 Pu of 0.3021 and -0.1610 respectively.
The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) has continued its work generating evaluations of new and historical benchmark experiments since the last update to the nuclear criticality safety (NCS) community at the 12th International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Conference held in 2023. One additional version of the ICSBEP Handbook has been published since that update, and the Technical Review Group (TRG) held two in-person meetings to review and approve additional benchmarks. The 2022 and 2023 editions of the handbook were combined into one release (published in November 2024) and contained 13 new evaluations with 46 different configurations and two major revisions to existing evaluations. The 2024 version of the handbook, currently under publication review, will contain two new evaluations with 15 new configurations and one major revision to HEU-MET-FAST-028, the evaluation of Flattop with a uranium core. The ICSBEP TRG met again in person in April 2025 to review benchmarks for the 2025 ICSBEP Handbook and final comment resolution is currently ongoing. Many of the new benchmarks represent contemporaneous experiments that have been specifically optimized to provide validation cases relevant to the NCS community. One major area of focus for new critical experiments is to target the sparsely populated intermediate energy (or resonance) region. Another focus of many of the new benchmarks is to provide experiments sensitive to different materials, such as chlorine, hafnium, tantalum, titanium, molybdenum, chromium, and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, or Lucite). The ICSBEP continues to deliver high-quality, peer reviewed evaluations of integral experiments relevant to the nuclear data community.
This presentation discusses why PNDA is ideal for TSL validations as it does not require fissile material, it has very simple target shapes and compositions, it is only sensitive to absorption and scattering of target medium, and that well conducted experiments have uncertainties of 0.1% - 0.5%. The presentation concludes by examining PNDA’s advantages and its role in nuclear data validations as it offers a cost-effective experiment for an integral benchmark, it provides the ability to focus on specific cross section data validation including thermal neutron absorption and thermal scattering laws, and the low experimental uncertainty makes it an excellent benchmark candidate. Additionally, it is easily tunable and can facilitate temperature dependent cross section validation by cooling or heating up targets.
Nuclear data important for the design and development of the next generation of light-water reactors and future fast reactors include neutron elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections on important structural materials, such as Fe, and on coolant materials, such as Na. These reaction probabilities are needed since neutron reactions impact fuel performance during irradiations and the overall efficiency of reactors. While neutron scattering cross sections from these materials are available for certain incident neutron energies, the fast neutron region, particularly above 2 MeV, has large gaps for which no measurements exist, or the existing uncertainties are large. Measurements have been made at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory to measure neutron scattering cross sections on both Fe and Na in the region where these gaps occur and to reduce the uncertainties on scattering from the ground state and first excited state of these nuclei. Results from measurements on Fe at incident neutron energies between 2 and 4 MeV will be presented and comparisons will be made to model calculations available from data evaluators.
For the accurate determination of reactivity from a detector count rate, correction of spatial effects is of prime importance. This spatial correction is often provided using simulation methodologies, but this may introduce a bias if the result of the experiment is also used as input data for the simulation. Here, this work presents a flux adjustment methodology able to infer experimental reactivity and correction of spatial effects without the need for a simulation. It can process the signal from a complex experiment such as a heat balance measurement in the TREAT reactor, where control rods are continuously adjusted to maintain a constant power. In the present work, this methodology successfully computed the reactivity and the local spatial variation of the flux of a generated signal. It also proved to be robust against noise and errors on kinetic parameters and provides a credible interpretation of a heat balance experiment in TREAT. Efficiency of flux adjustment methods for complex experiment enable a better experiment interpretation less reliant on nuclear data evaluation.
We consider two streams of data or measurements with disparate qualities and time resolutions that need to be classified. The first stream consists of higher quality data at a coarser time resolution, and the other consists of lower quality data at a finer time resolution. We present a fuser-switch method that fuses the set of classifiers of each stream separately and switches between them. We show that this method provides classification decisions at a finer time resolution with superior detection and false alarm probabilities compared to individual classifiers, under the statistical independence and time resolution ratio conditions. When classifiers are trained using machine learning methods, we show that this superior performance is guaranteed with a confidence probability specified by the classifiers' generalization equations. We use these results to provide analytical foundations for previous practical results that achieved significant performance improvements in classifying Pu/Np target dissolution events at a radiochemical processing facility.
A Subcritical Copper-Reflected α-phase Plutonium (SCRαP) integral benchmark experiment has been designed and measured. In this experiment, multiplication is approximated using correlated neutron data from a detector system consisting of 3He tubes inside high density polyethylene (HDPE). Measurements were performed on various subcritical experimental configurations consisting of a weapons-grade plutonium sphere surrounded by different Cu thicknesses. In addition to the proposed base experimental configurations with Cu, additional configurations were performed with the plutonium ball nested in various thicknesses of interleaved HDPE spherical shells mixed in with the Cu shells. The HDPE is intended to provide fast neutron moderation and reflection, resulting in additional measurements with differing multiplication, spectra, and nuclear data sensitivity.
Here, evaluated nuclear structure and decay data for all nuclei with mass number A=206 ( 206 Pt, 206 Au, 206 Hg, 206 Tl, 206 Pb, 206 Bi, 206 Po, 206 At, 206 Rn, 206 Fr, 206 Ra and 206 Ac), are presented. All available experimental data are compiled and evaluated, and best values for level and γ-ray energies, quantum numbers, lifetimes, γ-ray intensities and transition probabilities, as well as other nuclear properties, are recommended. Inconsistencies and discrepancies that exist in the literature are discussed. A number of computer codes (https://www-nds.iaea.org/public/ensdf_pgm/) developed by members of the NSDD network were used during the evaluation process. This work supersedes the earlier evaluation by F.G. Kondev (2008Ko21), published in Nuclear Data Sheets 109, 1527 (2008).
From the late 1960s to 1985, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) undertook a series of ‘pulsed sphere’ experiments for 32 materials involving 148 different experiments using 75 different spheres to measure the neutron leakage spectra for different materials from 14-MeV neutrons generated by 3 H(d, n) 4 He reactions induced by an incident D+ beam from the Insulated Core Transformer (ICT) accelerator at LLNL. This deuteron beam was focused to impinge on tritium loaded onto a titanium substrate within a low mass target assembly placed within the center of a spherical shell constructed from the material of interest. The neutron time of flight was measured at a detector outside a collimator. The program was intended to be comprehensive with numerous targets of various thicknesses spanning the periodic table from H to 239 Pu. Five different neutron detectors were utilized to avoid possible systematic errors due to differences in detector responses. Further, these measurements were designed with the aim that the simple geometry of the measurements could be easily simulated to validate Monte Carlo transport codes and nuclear data libraries. As a result, these benchmarks have been extensively used in the validation of ENDL, ENDF and other libraries. Two experiments selected as benchmark cases in this evaluation are: 1) target assembly without material sphere (blank run), and 2) target assembly with a hollow polyethylene sphere, 1.8 mean free path (mfp) or 16.56 cm thick.
A measurement campaign called the Measurement of Uranium Subcritical and Critical (MUSiC) was performed on a range of configurations of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) from December 2020 through April of 2021. While part of the focus was to measure reactor kinetics parameters on delayed supercritical systems, an additional focus was performing neutron noise measurements on subcritical configurations from deeply subcritical to nearly delayed critical. Multiple detector systems were used to perform these measurements, such as a 3 He multiplicity detector called the Neutron Multiplicity Array Detector (NoMAD) and a liquid scintillator system called the Rossi-α Measurement Rapid Organic Discriminating Detector (RAM-RODD). Also included were a scintillator system from the University of Michigan and a set of small 3He tubes that have previously been used to measure Rossi-α values on near-critical systems. The focus of this paper will be a comparison of prospective analysis methods for the NoMAD measurements. Previous subcritical measurements at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) submitted to the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) used the Hage-Cifarelli formalism of the Feynman Variance-to-Mean method. This relies on the time correlations of neutron detections to infer the spontaneous fission rate and neutron multiplication of a system through binning the time tagged detections and analyzing resulting histograms of the numbers of counts. However, there are other neutron noise methods that rely on similar processes, such as the Hansen-Dowdy formalism which uses a slightly different methodology to extract multiplication from the neutron multiplicity counting moments. Comparisons can be made between these experimental results and those obtained through simulations to validate or identify deficiencies in analysis, detection methods, or the underlying nuclear data. Different time gating strategies and their effects on count rate uncertainties are also investigated.
Our understanding on the distribution of fragment masses following fission, or fission yields is largely impacted by the quality of nuclear data. One of the most straightforward and reliable ways to determine the number of fissions that occurred in a chain reaction is done via detection of the characteristic γ-rays emitted during the β decay of the fission product. These γ rays are emitted in only a fraction of the decays, and this fraction (the γ-ray intensities) must be known accurately to determine the total number of fissions. Many long-lived fission products, such as 111 Ag, play an important role in science-based stockpile stewardship and nuclear forensics. The γ-ray intensities from the decay of 111 Ag are known to only 5%, leading to a 5% uncertainty in fission-chain yield. This work aims to improve the precision of these γ-ray intensities for the most intense emissions following the decay of 111 Ag, as seen in Figure 1.