Engineering topics

Chichester, D L

Publications and source records attributed to Chichester, D L.

9 records

DOE OSTI2012

MCNPX-PoliMi for Nuclear Nonproliferation Applications

In the past few years, efforts to develop new measurement systems to support nuclear nonproliferation and homeland security have increased substantially. Monte Carlo radiation transport is one of the simulation methods of choice for the analysis of data from existing systems and for the design of new measurement systems; it allows for accurate description of geometries, detailed modeling of particle-nucleus interactions, and event-by-event detection analysis. This paper describes the use of the Monte Carlo code MCNPX-PoliMi for nuclear-nonproliferation applications, with particular emphasis on the simulation of spontaneous and neutron-induced nuclear fission. In fact, of all possible neutron-nucleus interactions, neutron-induced fission is the most defining characteristic of special nuclear material (such as U-235 and Pu-239), which is the material of interest in nuclear-nonproliferation applications. The MCNP-PoliMi code was originally released from the Radiation Safety Shielding Center (RSSIC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2003 [1]; the MCNPX-PoliMi code contains many enhancements and is based on MCNPX ver. 2.7.0. MCNPX-PoliMi ver. 2.0 was released through RSICC in 2012 as a patch to MCNPX ver. 2.7.0 and as an executable [2].

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Validation of MCNPX-PoliMi Fission Models

We present new results on the measurement of correlated, outgoing neutrons from spontaneous fission events in a Cf-252 source. 16 EJ-309 liquid scintillation detectors are used to measure neutron-neutron correlations for various detector angles. Anisotropy in neutron emission is observed. The results are compared to MCNPX-PoliMi simulations and good agreement is observed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Validation of the MCNPX-PoliMi Code to Design a Fast-Neutron Multiplicity Counter

Many safeguards measurement systems used at nuclear facilities, both domestically and internationally, rely on He-3 detectors and well established mathematical equations to interpret coincidence and multiplicity-type measurements for verifying quantities of special nuclear material. Due to resource shortages alternatives to these existing He-3 based systems are being sought. Work is also underway to broaden the capabilities of these types of measurement systems in order to improve current multiplicity analysis techniques. As a part of a Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technology (MPACT) project within the U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cycle Technology Program we are designing a fast-neutron multiplicity counter with organic liquid scintillators to quantify important quantities such as plutonium mass. We are also examining the potential benefits of using fast-neutron detectors for multiplicity analysis of advanced fuels in comparison with He-3 detectors and testing the performance of such designs. The designs are being developed and optimized using the MCNPX-PoliMi transport code to study detector response. In the full paper, we will discuss validation measurements used to justify the use of the MCNPX-PoliMi code paired with the MPPost multiplicity routine to design a fast neutron multiplicity counter with liquid scintillators. This multiplicity counter will be designed with the end goal of safeguarding advanced nuclear fuels. With improved timing qualities associated with liquid scintillation detectors, we can design a system that is less limited by nuclear materials of high activities. Initial testing of the designed system with nuclear fuels will take place at Idaho National Laboratory in a later stage of this collaboration.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Assessing the Feasibility of Using Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis (NRTA) for Assaying Plutonium in Spent Fuel Assemblies

Neutron resonance transmission analysis (NRTA) is an active-interrogation nondestructive assay (NDA) technique capable of assaying spent nuclear fuel to determine plutonium content. Prior experimental work has definitively shown the technique capable of assaying plutonium isotope composition in spent-fuel pins to a precision of approximately 3%, with a spatial resolution of a few millimeters. As a Grand Challenge to investigate NDA options for assaying spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) in the commercial fuel cycle, Idaho National Laboratory has explored the feasibility of using NRTA to assay plutonium in a whole SFA. The goal is to achieve a Pu assay precision of 1%. The NRTA technique uses low-energy neutrons from 0.1-40 eV, at the bottom end of the actinide-resonance range, in a time-of-flight arrangement. Isotopic composition is determined by relating absorption of the incident neutrons to the macroscopic cross-section of the actinides of interest in the material, and then using this information to determine the areal density of the isotopes in the SFA. The neutrons used for NRTA are produced using a pulsed, accelerator-based neutron source. Distinguishable resonances exist for both the plutonium (239,240,241,242Pu) and uranium (235,236,238U) isotopes of interest in spent fuel. Additionally, in this energy range resonances exists for six important fission products (99Tc, 103Rh, 131Xe, 133Cs, 145Nd, and 152Sm) which provide additional information to support spent fuel plutonium assay determinations. Based on extensive modeling of the problem using Monte Carlo-based simulation codes, our preliminary results suggest that by rotating an SFA to acquire four symmetric views, sufficient neutron transmission can be achieved to assay a SFA. In this approach multiple scan information for the same pins may also be unfolded to potentially allow the determination of plutonium for sub-regions of the assembly. For a 17 ? 17 pressurized water reactor SFA, a simplistic preliminary analysis indicates the mass of 239Pu may be determined with a precision on the order of 5%, without the need for operator-supplied fuel information or operational histories. This paper will present our work to date on this topic, indicate our preliminary findings for a conceptual assay approach, discuss resilience against spoofing, and outline our future plans for evaluating the NRTA technique for SFA plutonium determination.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Demonstration of Emitted-Neutron Computed Tomography to Count Fuel Pins

In this paper, we report demonstration of emitted-neutron computed tomography using fast fission neutrons to infer the geometry of sources of special nuclear material (SNM) such as fuel pins. In a proof-of-concept measurement at the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR) facility, an array of unirradiated Pu MOX fuel rodlets in a soup can were imaged, and a bias defect consisting of a single rodlet containing Pu replaced by one containing depleted uranium (DU) was detected. The imaging system employed in the demonstration is based on a newly constructed array of pixelated neutron detectors that are suitable for arrangement in a close-packed imaging array and whose active volume consists of liquid scintillator EJ-309 which allows neutron-gamma discrimination via pulse shape to enable pure fast-neutron imaging. The imaging array was used along with a radial collimator aperture in order to perform high quality fast-neutron imaging where tomographic reconstruction of slices through an object resolve neutron sources similar in dimension to a fuel pellet, or about 1 cm. Measurements were performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with neutron sources in addition to those performed at the INL’s ZPPR facility with Pu MOX fuel rodlets. An analogous capability to detect single-pin defects in spent fuel assemblies would be desirable, such as for safeguards verification measurements of spent fuel assemblies just prior to transferring them from the spent fuel cooling pool to long term dry cask storage. This paper describes the design and construction of the present imager, characterization measurements with neutron sources at ORNL, measurements with SNM at INL’s ZPPR facility, and feasibility of building an analogous imager for spent fuel measurements.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Fast-neutron coded-aperture imaging of special nuclear material configurations

In the past year, a prototype fast-neutron coded-aperture imager has been developed that has sufficient efficiency and resolution to make the counting of warheads for possible future treaty confirmation scenarios via their fission-neutron emissions practical. The imager is constructed from custom-built pixelated liquid scintillator detectors. The liquid scintillator detectors enable neutron-gamma discrimination via pulse shape, and the pixelated construction enables a sufficient number of pixels for imaging in a compact detector with a manageable number of channels of readout electronics. The imager has been used to image neutron sources at ORNL, special nuclear material (SNM) sources at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR) facility, and neutron source and shielding configurations at Sandia National Laboratories. This paper reports on the design and construction of the imager, characterization measurements with neutron sources at ORNL, and measurements with SNM at the INL ZPPR facility.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Active-Interrogation Measurements of Induced-Fission Neutrons from Low-Enriched Uranium

Protection and control of nuclear fuels is paramount for nuclear security and safeguards; therefore, it is important to develop fast and robust controlling mechanisms to ensure the safety of nuclear fuels. Through both passive- and active-interrogation methods we can use fast-neutron detection to perform real-time measurements of fission neutrons for process monitoring. Active interrogation allows us to use different ranges of incident neutron energy to probe for different isotopes of uranium. With fast-neutron detectors, such as organic liquid scintillation detectors, we can detect the induced-fission neutrons and photons and work towards quantifying a sample’s mass and enrichment. Using MCNPX-PoliMi, a system was designed to measure induced-fission neutrons from U-235 and U-238. Measurements were then performed in the summer of 2010 at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. Fissions were induced with an associated particle D-T generator and an isotopic Am-Li source. The fission neutrons, as well as neutrons from (n, 2n) and (n, 3n) reactions, were measured with five 5” by 5” EJ-309 organic liquid scintillators. The D-T neutron generator was available as part of a measurement campaign in place by Padova University. The measurement and data-acquisition systems were developed at the University of Michigan utilizing a CAEN V1720 digitizer and pulse-shape discrimination algorithms to differentiate neutron and photon detections. Low-enriched uranium samples of varying mass and enrichment were interrogated. Acquired time-of-flight curves and cross-correlation curves are currently analyzed to draw relationships between detected neutrons and sample mass and enrichment. In the full paper, the promise of active-interrogation measurements and fast-neutron detection will be assessed through the example of this proof-of-concept measurement campaign. Additionally, MCNPX-PoliMi simulation results will be compared to the measured data to validate the MCNPX-PoliMi code when used for active-interrogation simulations.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2012

Field Ion Source Development for Neutron Generators

An ion source based on the principles of electrostatic field desorption is being developed to improve the performance of existing compact neutron generators. The ion source is an array of gated metal tips derived from field electron emitter array microfabrication technology. A comprehensive summary of development and experimental activities is presented. Many structural modifications to the arrays have been incorporated to achieve higher tip operating fields, while lowering fields at the gate electrode to prevent gate field electron emission which initiates electrical breakdown in the array. The latest focus of fabrication activities has been on rounding the gate electrode edge and surrounding the gate electrode with dielectric material. Array testing results have indicated a steady progression of increased array tip operating fields with each new design tested. The latest arrays have consistently achieved fields beyond those required for the onset of deuterium desorption ({approx}20 V/nm), and have demonstrated the desorption of deuterium at fields up to 36 V/nm. The number of ions desorbed from an array has been quantified, and field desorption of metal tip substrate material from array tips has been observed for the first time. Gas-phase field ionization studies with {approx}10,000 tip arrays have achieved deuterium ion currents of {approx}50 nA. Neutron production by field ionization has yielded {approx}10{sup 2} n/s from {approx}1 mm{sup 2} of array area using the deuterium-deuterium fusion reaction at 90 kV.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2011

Tailoring the Neutron Spectrum from a 14-MeV Neutron Generator to Approximate a Spontaneous-Fission Spectrum

Many applications of neutrons for non-invasive measurements began with isotopic sources such as AmBe or Cf-252. Political factors have rendered AmBe undesirable in the United States and other countries, and the supply of Cf-252 is limited and significantly increasing in price every few years. Compact and low-power deuterium-tritium (DT) electronic neutron generators can often provide sufficient flux, but the 14-MeV neutron spectrum is much more energetic (harder) than an isotopic neutron source. A series of MCNP simulations was run to examine the extent to which the 14-MeV DT neutron spectrum could be softened through the use of high-Z and low-Z materials. Some potential concepts of operation require a portable neutron generator system, so the additional weight of extra materials is also a trade-off parameter. Using a reference distance of 30 cm from the source, the average neutron energy can be lowered to be less than that of either AmBe or Cf-252, while obtaining an increase in flux at the reference distance compared to a bare neutron generator. This paper discusses the types and amounts of materials used, the resulting neutron spectra, neutron flux levels, and associated photon production.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗