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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Standardizing Activation Analysis: New Software for Photon Activation Analysis

Photon Activation Analysis (PAA) of environmental, archaeological and industrial samples requires extensive data analysis that is susceptible to error. For the purpose of saving time, manpower and minimizing error, a computer program was designed, built and implemented using SQL, Access 2007 and asp.net technology to automate this process. Based on the peak information of the spectrum and assisted by its PAA library, the program automatically identifies elements in the samples and calculates their concentrations and respective uncertainties. The software also could be operated in browser/server mode, which gives the possibility to use it anywhere the internet is accessible. By switching the nuclide library and the related formula behind, the new software can be easily expanded to neutron activation analysis (NAA), charged particle activation analysis (CPAA) or proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Implementation of this would standardize the analysis of nuclear activation data. Results from this software were compared to standard PAA analysis with excellent agreement. With minimum input from the user, the software has proven to be fast, user-friendly and reliable.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Non destructive multi elemental analysis using prompt gamma neutron activation analysis techniques: Preliminary results for concrete sample

In this study, principle of prompt gamma neutron activation analysis has been used as a technique to determine the elements in the sample. The system consists of collimated isotopic neutron source, Cf-252 with HPGe detector and Multichannel Analysis (MCA). Concrete with size of 10×10×10 cm{sup 3} and 15×15×15 cm{sup 3} were analysed as sample. When neutrons enter and interact with elements in the concrete, the neutron capture reaction will occur and produce characteristic prompt gamma ray of the elements. The preliminary result of this study demonstrate the major element in the concrete was determined such as Si, Mg, Ca, Al, Fe and H as well as others element, such as Cl by analysis the gamma ray lines respectively. The results obtained were compared with NAA and XRF techniques as a part of reference and validation. The potential and the capability of neutron induced prompt gamma as tool for multi elemental analysis qualitatively to identify the elements present in the concrete sample discussed.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Testing the quasi-absolute method in photon activation analysis

In photon activation analysis (PAA), relative methods are widely used because of their accuracy and precision. Absolute methods, which are conducted without any assistance from calibration materials, are seldom applied for the difficulty in obtaining photon flux in measurements. This research is an attempt to perform a new absolute approach in PAA - quasi-absolute method - by retrieving photon flux in the sample through Monte Carlo simulation. With simulated photon flux and database of experimental cross sections, it is possible to calculate the concentration of target elements in the sample directly. The QA/QC procedures to solidify the research are discussed in detail. Our results show that the accuracy of the method for certain elements is close to a useful level in practice. Furthermore, the future results from the quasi-absolute method can also serve as a validation technique for experimental data on cross sections. The quasi-absolute method looks promising.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

An Overview Of Activation Analysis Techniques And Applications

Activation analysis can be performed using three different techniques, namely: activation with neutrons, with high-energy photons, and with charged particles. The different features as well as the advantages and drawbacks of these separate techniques will be discussed in this paper. During exposure radionuclides are produced in the activated sample and, the turn, the radiation emitted during radioactive decay (photons in the most cases) is measured with appropriate spectrometers. By evaluating the produced spectra, the elemental components of the activated material can be quantitatively ascertained. Through means of activation analysis, basically any kind of material can be studied. And frequently the sample can be analysed as is(instrumentally without complicated radiochemical separation steps), and in favourable cases, the analysis may be conducted non-destructively, i.e. without removing pieces of the interrogated sample. Several common applications will be discussed in this paper.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Neutron Activation Analysis: Techniques and Applications

The role of neutron activation analysis in low-energy low-background experimentsis discussed in terms of comparible methods. Radiochemical neutron activation analysis is introduce. The procedure of instrumental neutron activation analysis is detailed especially with respect to the measurement of trace amounts of natural radioactivity. The determination of reactor neutron spectrum parameters required for neutron activation analysis is also presented.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

The relevance of particle flux monitors in accelerator-based activation analysis

One of the most critical parameters in activation analysis is the flux density of the activating radiation, its spatial distribution in particular. The validity of the basic equation for calculating the activity induced to the exposed item depends upon the fulfilment of several conditions, the most relevant of them being equal doses of incident activating radiation received by the unknown sample, the calibration material and the reference material, respectively. This requirement is most problematic if accelerator-produced radiation is used for activation. Whilst nuclear research reactors usually are equipped with exposure positions that provide fairly homogenous activation fields for thermal neutron activation analysis accelerator-generated particle beams (neutrons, photons, charged particles) usually exhibit axial and, in particular, sharp radial flux gradients. Different experimental procedures have been developed to fulfil the condition mentioned above. In this paper, three variants of the application of flux monitors in photon activation analysis are discussed (external monitor, additive and inherent internal monitor). Experiments have indicated that the latter technique yields highest quality of the analytical results.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Improved mesh based photon sampling techniques for neutron activation analysis

The design of fusion power systems requires analysis of neutron activation of large, complex volumes, and the resulting particles emitted from these volumes. Structured mesh-based discretization of these problems allows for improved modeling in these activation analysis problems. Finer discretization of these problems results in large computational costs, which drives the investigation of more efficient methods. Within an ad hoc subroutine of the Monte Carlo transport code MCNP, we implement sampling of voxels and photon energies for volumetric sources using the alias method. The alias method enables efficient sampling of a discrete probability distribution, and operates in 0(1) time, whereas the simpler direct discrete method requires 0(log(n)) time. By using the alias method, voxel sampling becomes a viable alternative to sampling space with the 0(1) approach of uniformly sampling the problem volume. Additionally, with voxel sampling it is straightforward to introduce biasing of volumetric sources, and we implement this biasing of voxels as an additional variance reduction technique that can be applied. We verify our implementation and compare the alias method, with and without biasing, to direct discrete sampling of voxels, and to uniform sampling. We study the behavior of source biasing in a second set of tests and find trends between improvements and source shape, material, and material density. Overall, however, the magnitude of improvements from source biasing appears to be limited. Future work will benefit from the implementation of efficient voxel sampling - particularly with conformal unstructured meshes where the uniform sampling approach cannot be applied. (authors)

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Comparison of Impurities in Charcoal Sorbents Found by Neutron Activation Analysis

Abstract: Neutron activation of gas samples in a reactor often requires a medium to retain sufficient amounts of the gas for analysis. Charcoal is commonly used to adsorb gas and hold it for activation; however, the amount of activated sodium in the charcoal after irradiation swamps most signals of interest. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) was performed on several commonly available charcoal samples in an effort to determine the activation background. The results for several elements, including the dominant sodium element, are reported. It was found that ECN charcoal had the lowest elemental background, containing sodium at 2.65 ± 0.05 ppm, as well as trace levels of copper and tungsten.

activated carbon↗
DOE OSTI2016

Improvement of analytical capabilities of neutron activation analysis laboratory at the Colombian Geological Survey

The Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) laboratory at the Colombian Geological Survey has developed a technique for multi-elemental analysis of soil and plant matrices, based on Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) using the comparator method. In order to evaluate the analytical capabilities of the technique, the laboratory has been participating in inter-comparison tests organized by Wepal (Wageningen Evaluating Programs for Analytical Laboratories). In this work, the experimental procedure and results for the multi-elemental analysis of four soil and four plant samples during participation in the first round on 2015 of Wepal proficiency test are presented. Only elements with radioactive isotopes with medium and long half-lives have been evaluated, 15 elements for soils (As, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, K, La, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Th, U and Zn) and 7 elements for plants (Br, Co, Cr, Fe, K, Na and Zn). The performance assessment by Wepal based on Z-score distributions showed that most results obtained |Z-scores| ≤ 3.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Sample registration software for process automation in the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) Facility in Malaysia nuclear agency

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) had been established in Nuclear Malaysia since 1980s. Most of the procedures established were done manually including sample registration. The samples were recorded manually in a logbook and given ID number. Then all samples, standards, SRM and blank were recorded on the irradiation vial and several forms prior to irradiation. These manual procedures carried out by the NAA laboratory personnel were time consuming and not efficient. Sample registration software is developed as part of IAEA/CRP project on ‘Development of Process Automation in the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) Facility in Malaysia Nuclear Agency (RC17399)’. The objective of the project is to create a pc-based data entry software during sample preparation stage. This is an effective method to replace redundant manual data entries that needs to be completed by laboratory personnel. The software developed will automatically generate sample code for each sample in one batch, create printable registration forms for administration purpose, and store selected parameters that will be passed to sample analysis program. The software is developed by using National Instruments Labview 8.6.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

LaBr 3 : Ce self-activation analysis for measuring fast neutron fields

Measurement of the fast neutron production rate in deuterium–tritium (D–T) fusion reactions is important for applications such as active interrogation, fusion diagnostics, and borehole logging. Such measurements are typically performed by neutron activation analysis of metal foils, especially copper. Copper foil activation analysis requires efficiency and energy calibrations of the detector used to measure the foil, and it relies on the detection of 511 keV gamma rays, which are prominent in the active background when neutrons are being produced. Alternatives, such as 79m Br produced by inelastic neutron scattering on 79 Br, are limited by short half-life, low-energy gamma emission, and inability to selectively measure D–T neutrons. This work describes a novel alternative approach to measure ≳10 MeV neutron fields based on self-activation analysis of a LaBr 3 :Ce detector. The activity of 78 Br, the activation product of the 79 Br(n,2n) 78 Br reaction, is used to determine the neutron flux and infer the neutron production rate. We experimentally demonstrate the method with a cylindrical LaBr 3 :Ce crystal with a diameter and height of 3.81 cm that was placed at an ~18 cm distance from the neutron production point, at a 90° angle with respect to the deuteron beam in a D–T neutron generator. Operating voltage and current of the generator were adjusted to evaluate the technique’s performance over a nominal generator output range of approximately (1 - 9) x 10 7 n/s. The neutron output obtained from LaBr 3 :Ce activation agrees to within three standard deviations of the output obtained using copper activation. The self-activation technique can be conveniently employed in a variety of applications to simplify measurements of fast neutrons produced in D–T fusion reactions.

Active interrogationLaBr3↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of Compton suppression for enhancing trace element identification in neutron activation analysis of reference materials

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a powerful technique for identifying and quantifying trace elements in materials. However, challenges such as high dead times, spectral interferences, and high Compton continuum often arise. This study employs a Compton suppression system (CSS) to enhance NAA sensitivity by reducing the Compton continuum, thereby improving the peak-to-Compton ratio. National Institute of Standards and Technology certified reference materials 1632d, 1633c, and Canadian National Research Council TORT-1 were irradiated in a thermal and epithermal neutron flux under various irradiation, decay and counting times and analyzed using high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy with and without Compton suppression. The reduction factor was calculated to evaluate the effectiveness of the CSS, demonstrating significant background reduction and improved detection limits for trace elements. Additional experiments with a 137Cs point source demonstrated the impact of detector-source geometry on system performance, showing a decrease in the reduction factor as the source was moved further from the NaI detector. An optimum distance between the source and HPGe detector was observed, yielding the highest peak-to-Compton ratio. The results highlight the CSS's ability to minimize spectral interference and enhance elemental identification.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Neutronics and activation analysis of lithium-based ternary alloys in IFE blankets

Here we report that an attractive feature of using liquid lithium as the breeder and coolant in fusion blankets is that it has very high tritium solubility and results in very low levels of tritium permeation throughout the facility infrastructure. However, lithium metal vigorously reacts with air and water and presents plant safety concerns. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is carrying an effort to develop a lithium-based alloy that maintains the beneficial properties of lithium (e.g. high tritium breeding and solubility) and at the same time reduces overall flammability concerns. This study evaluates the neutronics performance of lithium-based alloys in the blanket of an inertial fusion energy chamber in order to inform such development. 3-D Monte Carlo calculations were performed to evaluate two main neutronics performance parameters for the blanket: tritium breeding ratio (TBR), and the fusion energy multiplication factor (EMF). It was found that elements that exhibit low absorption cross sections and higher q-values such as lead, tin, and strontium, perform well with those that have high neutron multiplication such as lead and bismuth. These elements meet TBR constrains ranging from 1.02 to 1.1. However, most alloys do not reach EMFs greater than 1.15. Additionally, it was found that enriching lithium significantly increases the TBR and decreases the minimum lithium concentration by more than 60%. The amount of enrichment depends on how much total lithium is in the alloy to begin with. Alloys that performed well in the TBR and EMF calculations were considered for activation analysis. Activation simulations were executed with 50 years of irradiation and 300 years of cooling. It was discovered that bismuth is a poor choice due to achieving the highest decay heat, contact dose rates, and accident doses. In addition, it does not meet the waste disposal ratings (WDR). Some of the activation results for alloys with tin, zinc, and gallium were in the higher end and should be considered secondary to elements such as strontium and barium that had overall better results. The results of this study along with other considerations such as thermodynamics, and chemical reactivity will help down select a preferred lithium ternary alloy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Characterization of HPGe gamma spectrometric detectors systems for Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) at the Colombian Geological Survey

This paper presents the progress made by the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) laboratory at the Colombian Geological Survey (SGC in its Spanish acronym), towards the characterization of its gamma spectrometric systems for Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), with the aim of introducing corrections to the measurements by variations in sample geometry. Characterization includes the empirical determination of the interaction point of gamma radiation inside the Germanium crystal, through the application of a linear model and the use of a fast Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) software to estimate correction factors for differences in counting efficiency that arise from variations in sample density between samples and standards.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Activation Analysis in Preparation for a Tungsten Irradiation Experiment at LANSCE

To organize the safe handling of activated material, knowing the residual dose rates is crucial. Here, in this work, we present the pre-experiment activation analysis for an experiment in which tungsten blocks are irradiated by 800-MeV protons. In this analysis, we use the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code for radiation transport, Attila4MC for unstructured mesh generation, and Activation in Accelerator Radiation Environments (AARE), including CINDER2008, for activation analysis. If the tungsten blocks must be removed within a day after the experiment, then exposure to personnel entering the room must be reduced. One exposure-reduction strategy is to add carbon steel shielding around the tungsten blocks, efficiently reducing the dose from the activated tungsten. However, the shielding becomes activated itself during irradiation: 56Mn is the dominant contributor for short decay times. The actual schedule at the time of the experiment allowed sufficient cool-off time for the tungsten in the room so that additional shielding was not necessary. A less rigorous comparison of the calculated values with the post-experiment measurements showed reasonable agreement.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Using Photon Activation Analysis To Determine Concentrations Of Unknown Components In Reference Materials

Using certified multi-element reference materials for instrumental analyses one frequently is confronted with the embarrassing fact that the concentration of some desired elements are not given in the respective certificate, nonetheless are detectable, e.g. by photon activation analysis (PAA). However, these elements might be determinable with sufficient quality of the results using scaling parameters and the well-known quantities of a reference element within the reference material itself. Scaling parameters include: activation threshold energy, Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR) peak and endpoint energy of the bremsstrahlung continuum; integrated photo-nuclear cross sections for the isotopes of the reference element; bremsstrahlung continuum integral; target thickness; photon flux density. Photo-nuclear cross sections from the unreferenced elements must be known, too. With these quantities, the integral was obtained for both the known and unknown elements resulting in an inference of the concentration of the unreported element based upon the reported value, thus also the concentration of the unreferenced element in the reference material. A similar method to determine elements using the basic nuclear and experimental data has been developed for thermal neutron activation analysis some time ago (k{sub 0} Method).

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗