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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
NASA NTRS2012

Time-Resolved Data Acquisition for In Situ Subsurface Planetary Geochemistry

The current gamma-ray/neutron instrumentation development effort at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center aims to extend the use of active pulsed neutron interrogation techniques to probe the subsurface geochemistry of planetary bodies in situ. All previous NASA planetary science missions, that used neutron and/or gamma-ray spectroscopy instruments, have relied on a constant neutron source produced from galactic cosmic rays. One of the distinguishing features of this effort is the inclusion of a high intensity 14.1 MeV pulsed neutron generator synchronized with a custom data acquisition system to time each event relative to the pulse. With usually only one opportunity to collect data, it is difficult to set a priori time-gating windows to obtain the best possible results. Acquiring time-tagged, event-by-event data from nuclear induced reactions provides raw data sets containing channel/energy, and event time for each gamma ray or neutron detected. The resulting data set can be plotted as a function of time or energy using optimized analysis windows after the data are acquired. Time windows can now be chosen to produce energy spectra that yield the most statistically significant and accurate elemental composition results that can be derived from the complete data set. The advantages of post-processing gamma-ray time-tagged event-by-event data in experimental tests using our prototype instrument will be demonstrated.

Bodnarik, Julia Gates↗
NASA NTRS2013

Time-resolved Neutron-gamma-ray Data Acquisition for in Situ Subsurface Planetary Geochemistry

The current gamma-ray/neutron instrumentation development effort at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center aims to extend the use of active pulsed neutron interrogation techniques to probe the subsurface elemental composition of planetary bodies in situ. Previous NASA planetary science missions, that used neutron and/or gamma-ray spectroscopy instruments, have relied on neutrons produced from galactic cosmic rays. One of the distinguishing features of this effort is the inclusion of a high intensity 14.1 MeV pulsed neutron generator synchronized with a custom data acquisition system to time each event relative to the pulse. With usually only one opportunity to collect data, it is difficult to set a priori time-gating windows to obtain the best possible results. Acquiring time-tagged, event-by-event data from nuclear induced reactions provides raw data sets containing channel/energy, and event time for each gamma ray or neutron detected. The resulting data set can be plotted as a function of time or energy using optimized analysis windows after the data are acquired. Time windows can now be chosen to produce energy spectra that yield the most statistically significant and accurate elemental composition results that can be derived from the complete data set. The advantages of post-processing gamma-ray time-tagged event-by-event data in experimental tests using our prototype instrument will be demonstrated.

Pulsed neutrongenerator↗
DOE OSTI2026

Glauber-Theory Calculations of High-Energy Nuclear Scattering Observables Using Variational Monte Carlo Wave Functions

Experiments using intermediate- to high-energy radioactive nuclear beams present numerous findings. Extracting important properties of physical observables relies on a firm theoretical analysis. Though Glauber theory is believed to work well, no convincing calculation has so far been done. Here, we perform ab initio Glauber theory calculations of both elastic differential cross sections and total reaction cross sections for p+ 12 C, 12 C+ 12 C, and 6 He+ 12 C systems. The wave functions of both 6 He and 12 C are generated by variational Monte Carlo calculations with spatial and spin-isospin correlations induced by realistic two- and three-nucleon potentials. Glauber’s phase-shift function is computed by Monte Carlo integration up to all orders of nucleon-nucleon multiple scatterings. We show an excellent performance of the Glauber description to the selected data on the above systems. We also find that the cumulant expansion of the phase-shift function converges rapidly up to the second order for the above systems. This finding will open up interesting applications for the analysis of high-energy nuclear experiments.

Horiuchi, W. [Osaka Metropolitan University (Japan↗
DOE OSTI2023

Search for 22 Na in novae supported by a novel method for measuring femtosecond nuclear lifetimes

Classical novae are thermonuclear explosions in stellar binary systems, and important sources of 26 Al and 22 Na. While γ rays from the decay of the former radioisotope have been observed throughout the Galaxy, 22 Na remains untraceable. Its half-life (2.6 yr) would allow the observation of its 1.275 MeV γ-ray line from a cosmic source. However, the prediction of such an observation requires good knowledge of its nucleosynthesis. The 22 Na(p, γ) 23 Mg reaction remains the only source of large uncertainty about the amount of 22 Na ejected. Its rate is dominated by a single resonance on the short-lived state at 7785.0(7) keV in 23 Mg. Here, we propose a combined analysis of particle-particle correlations and velocity-difference profiles to measure femtosecond nuclear lifetimes. The application of this method to the study of the 23 Mg states, places strong limits on the amount of 22 Na produced in novae and constrains its detectability with future space-borne observatories.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Determination of energy-dependent neutron backgrounds using shadow bars

Understanding the neutron background is essential for determining the neutron yield from nuclear reactions. Here, the neutron backgrounds were determined for heavy-ion collision experiment using the shadow-bar method, where beams of 40,48 Ca at 56, 140 MeV/u impinged on targets of 58,64 Ni and 112,124 Sn. In the analysis presented here, brass shadow bars are placed in front of organic liquid scintillator neutron detectors to determine the energy-dependent neutron background fractions. The measurement of neutron spectra with and without shadow bars is important to determine the neutron background more accurately. The neutron background, along with its sources and systematic uncertainties, are explored with a focus on the impact of background models and their dependence on neutron energy.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of Approaches to Model Excited State Charge and Energy Transfer in Solution

The development of next generation energy conversion and catalytic systems requires fundamental understanding of the interplay between photo-excitation and the resulting proton and electron transfer processes that occur in solution. To address these challenges requires accurate and efficient methods to compute ground and excited states, as well as the ability to treat the dynamics of energy transfer in the presence of solvent fluctuations. Our team is developing accurate and efficient theoretical models for solution phase reactions. These developments provide an improved understanding of photo-initiated excitations, electron transfer, and proton coupled electron transfer processes. Our research team brings together expertise in electron and nuclear dynamics (classical and quantum), electronic structure, and analysis of solvation networks. We are developing and validating techniques for modeling condensed phase charge and energy transfer and to simulate the methods to monitor them using optical and vibrational spectroscopy.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

SCALE modeling of foil irradiations at WSU’s TRIGA with sensitivity/uncertainty analysis

We report the Washington State University TRIGA reactor was modeled in the SCALE system’s KENO neutron transport code. The model includes 119 fuel rods, a central boral control rod, 4 control blades, 5 irradiation ports, and 20 graphite reflector blocks within a rectangular aluminum grid box. The model accurately simulated the irradiation of depleted uranium and highly enriched uranium foils and predicted reaction rate ratios for 238 U(n,2n) 237 U / 238 U(n,γ) 239 U and 99 Mo / fission, which compared favorably to empirical values previously measured at Los Alamos. Finally, a sensitivity/uncertainty analysis was performed using the continuous-energy TSUNAMI-3D module of SCALE.

237Np↗
DOE OSTI2024

Ne 21 energy levels approaching the α -particle threshold

Nuclei around Ne 20 exhibit an interplay of different excitations caused by different aspects of nuclear structure, including single-particle and multiparticle configurations and collective rotations. One-nucleon transfer reactions selectively probe single-particle structures in these nuclei. These nuclei are also important to astrophysics, with a number of important reactions proceeding through this mass region. Energy levels approaching the α -particle threshold in Ne 21 are of importance to nuclear structure. The Ne 20 ( d , p ) Ne 21 reaction was measured and the corresponding spectroscopic nuclear information was extracted. States in Ne 21 were populated using the Ne 20 ( d , p ) Ne 21 reaction in forward kinematics. Protons were identified in the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) Enge split-pole spectrograph and angular distributions were extracted. Spin-party assignments were made and neutron partial widths were determined based on distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) analysis. Several new energy levels were observed at energies of 7176, 7235, 7250, and 7337 keV, and spin-parities are reported which generally agree with previous results where literature was available. Spin and parity assignments are reported for several energy levels along with estimated neutron widths for those states above the neutron threshold ( S n = 6761 keV ). Results from this study are placed in context with a review of the available literature on all known states in this energy region of Ne 21 . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Stochastic mean-field theory and applications to multinucleon transfer and kinetic energy dissipation processes in heavy-ion collisions

In this Review article, a brief description of the stochastic mean-field (SMF) theory for describing reaction dynamics in low-energy heavy-ion collisions at bombarding energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier is presented. In these collisions, as a result of strong Pauli blocking, binary nucleon collisions do not have a significant effect on the dissipation and fluctuations. At low energies, the mean-field fluctuations, due to initial correlations, have a dominant effect on fluctuations of macroscopic variables. The SMF theory proposes the determination of an ensemble of single-particle density matrices by specifying random initial fluctuations according to a distribution law. Employing an ensemble of single-particle density matrices, not only the mean values but also the distribution functions of the one-body observables can be determined. If the di-nuclear structure is maintained in heavy-ion collisions, such as deep inelastic collisions and fast quasi-fission reactions, a much simpler description of the reaction mechanism can be derived in terms of several macroscopic variables such as mass and charge asymmetry, and relative linear and relative angular momentum. In this case, by geometric projection of the SMF equations, it is possible to derive the quantal Langevin equations for macroscopic variables. As an application of quantal transport description, an analysis of multinucleon transfers and kinetic energy dissipation and fluctuations is presented for selected quasi-fission reactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A New Data Analysis Technique for Determining Mix Parameters from HED Experiments

In designing, analyzing, and understanding high-energy-density (HED) physics experiments, including inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments, we must contend with the extension of hydrodynamics to new regimes where additional physics, such as radiation transport and nuclear reactions, become important and coupled to the dynamics. Our most sophisticated models and understanding are based in classical, low-energy physics, since that is what we have the easiest access to creating and diagnosing. To assess our extrapolation of that understanding to the HED regime will require comparable precision in experiments and measurements. This is particularly the important in the case of hydrodynamic turbulence — most experiments are designed with one or two dimensions of symmetry, but at small scales hydrodynamics is generically observed to crumple into a fine structure of apparently random, three-dimensional eddies.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

The RADIOSTAR Project

Radioactive nuclei are the key to understanding the circumstances of the birth of our Sun because meteoritic analysis has proven that many of them were present at that time. Their origin, however, has been so far elusive. The ERC-CoG-2016 RADIOSTAR project is dedicated to investigating the production of radioactive nuclei by nuclear reactions inside stars, their evolution in the Milky Way Galaxy, and their presence in molecular clouds. So far, we have discovered that: (i) radioactive nuclei produced by s l o w ( 107 Pd and 182 Hf) and r a p i d ( 129 I and 247 Cm) neutron captures originated from stellar sources —asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and compact binary mergers, respectively—within the galactic environment that predated the formation of the molecular cloud where the Sun was born; (ii) the time that elapsed from the birth of the cloud to the birth of the Sun was of the order of 10 7 years, and (iii) the abundances of the very short-lived nuclei 26 Al, 36 Cl, and 41 Ca can be explained by massive star winds in single or binary systems, if these winds directly polluted the early Solar System. Our current and future work, as required to finalise the picture of the origin of radioactive nuclei in the Solar System, involves studying the possible origin of radioactive nuclei in the early Solar System from core-collapse supernovae, investigating the production of 107 Pd in massive star winds, modelling the transport and mixing of radioactive nuclei in the galactic and molecular cloud medium, and calculating the galactic chemical evolution of 53 Mn and 60 Fe and of the p -process isotopes 92 Nb and 146 Sm.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

First bromine doped cryogenic implosion at the National Ignition Facility

We report on the first experiment dedicated to the study of nuclear reactions on dopants in a cryogenic capsule at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). This was accomplished using bromine doping in the inner layers of the CH ablator of a capsule identical to that used in the NIF shot N140520. The capsule was doped with 3 × 1016 bromine atoms. The doped capsule shot, N170730, resulted in a DT yield that was 2.6 times lower than the undoped equivalent. The Radiochemical Analysis of Gaseous Samples (RAGS) system was used to collect and detect 79Kr atoms resulting from energetic deuteron and proton ion reactions on 79Br. RAGS was also used to detect 13N produced dominantly by knock-on deuteron reactions on the 12C in the ablator. High-energy reaction-in-flight neutrons were detected via the 209Bi(n,4n)206Bi reaction, using bismuth activation foils located 50 cm outside of the target capsule. The robustness of the RAGS signals suggests that the use of nuclear reactions on dopants as diagnostics is quite feasible.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Role of Nuclear Data Sensitivities in Prompt α-Eigenvalue Predictions of Delayed Critical Benchmarks

Alpha (α) eigenvalues, which describe the logarithmic time derivative of the neutron population in a multiplying system, are integral to time-dependent behavior and diagnostic applications. However, uncertainties in the evaluated nuclear data can significantly impact the accuracy of transport simulations for such quantities. This work explores the use of machine learning models to predict two key outputs, α-eigenvalues and keff bias, using input features derived from α-eigenvalue sensitivities to nuclear data. The criticality safety benchmark models used in this study come from the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments. Three models, random forest, XGBoost, and NGBoost, are trained on both energy-resolved and energy-summed α sensitivities. For the α-eigenvalue bias prediction, NGBoost achieved the highest R 2 (0.9476) using energy-resolved features, while XGBoost performed best using summed sensitivities. In contrast, when predicting the keff bias, all the models showed moderate predictive capability (best R 2 ≈ 0.72), as the mapping from the static α-sensitivities to the static keff bias was less direct. SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis was used to interpret the model predictions. Across both prediction tasks, the features associated with neutron capture [H-1 (n, γ)], uranium scattering reactions (such as 235 U elastic/inelastic), and actinide capture/fission reactions (such as 239 Pu and 234 U) were consistently identified as the most impactful. This highlights the key role of specific nuclear reactions and energy ranges in shaping both time-dependent and steady-state criticality behavior. These results demonstrated that α-sensitivities, despite being computed for time-dependent metrics, can provide valuable insights for predicting both α-eigenvalues and the keff bias. Moreover, machine learning models offer a promising pathway for uncovering important nuclear data dependencies and guiding future data evaluation efforts.

Nuclear data↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LENR Products: Lattice Confinement Fusion (LCF), Fission, or Both?

Lattice Confinement Fusion (LCF) or Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) generate heat from the high energy products they produce. Conventionally, d-d fusion reactions may produce either 2.45 MeV neutrons, 3 MeV protons, or high energy gammas. Generally, fission will give 5-10x the excess energy of fusion. However, aneutronic “cold fusion” would provide 24 MeV/reaction, D(d,γ) 4 He, where the gamma is suppressed. In a series of pressurized gas cycling experiments with a palladium silver (75 wt.% Pd and 25 wt.% Ag or Pd25Ag) alloy [1], samples cycled with deuterium showed excess heat via unexplained temperature rises. Post-test analysis of the Pd25Ag samples using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM/EDX) showed several molten features containing anomalous elements other than Pd and Ag. Researchers such as Liu et al [2] have also observed transmutations under similar conditions. These molten areas and anomalous elements suggest Pd fission. This nuclear process has been referred to as nuclear disintegration. Either nuclear fission or disintegration may result in neutron rich fragments. The fragments would rapidly beta decay to shorter lived daughters until they reach stability. We’ve observed evidence of both fusion and fission products [3]. Figure 1 shows neutron spectroscopy showing fusion and boosted neutron energies in bremsstrahlung-initiated fusion of TiD2. Figure 2 shows possible fission products from D2 gas cycled Pd25Ag alloy. Alternatively, Oppenheimer-Phillips stripping reactions, enhanced by electron screening [4] may also occur. In this case, the 8.6 MeV binding energy per Pd or Ag minus the 2.2 MeV deuteron binding energy leaves 6.4 MeV distributed between the reaction products. The energy is shared inversely proportional to the masses of the stripped off nucleon, p or n, and the new target nucleus.

Theresa L. Benyo↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LENR Products: Lattice Confinement Fusion (LCF), Fission, or Both?

Lattice Confinement Fusion (LCF) or Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) generate heat from the high energy products they produce. Conventionally, d-d fusion reactions may produce either 2.45 MeV neutrons, 3 MeV protons, or high energy gammas. Generally, fission will give 5-10x the excess energy of fusion. However, aneutronic “cold fusion” would provide 24 MeV/reaction, D(d,γ) 4 He, where the gamma is suppressed. In a series of pressurized gas cycling experiments with a palladium silver (75 wt.% Pd and 25 wt.% Ag or Pd25Ag) alloy [1], samples cycled with deuterium showed excess heat via unexplained temperature rises. Post-test analysis of the Pd25Ag samples using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM/EDX) showed several molten features containing anomalous elements other than Pd and Ag. Researchers such as Liu et al [2] have also observed transmutations under similar conditions. These molten areas and anomalous elements suggest Pd fission. This nuclear process has been referred to as nuclear disintegration. Either nuclear fission or disintegration may result in neutron rich fragments. The fragments would rapidly beta decay to shorter lived daughters until they reach stability. We’ve observed evidence of both fusion and fission products [3]. Figure 1 shows neutron spectroscopy showing fusion and boosted neutron energies in bremsstrahlung-initiated fusion of TiD2. Figure 2 shows possible fission products from D 2 gas cycled Pd25Ag alloy. Alternatively, Oppenheimer-Phillips stripping reactions, enhanced by electron screening [4] may also occur. In this case, the 8.6 MeV binding energy per Pd or Ag minus the 2.2 MeV deuteron binding energy leaves 6.4 MeV distributed between the reaction products. The energy is shared inversely proportional to the masses of the stripped off nucleon, p or n, and the new target nucleus.

Theresa L. Benyo↗
DOE OSTI2021

Propagating neutronic uncertainties for FFTF LOFWOS Test #13

The safety evaluation conducted for licensing a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) may require modeling transients with best-estimate calculation tools that must first be validated against real-world measurements. To provide the community with a valuable benchmarking opportunity for validating SFR analysis tools and methods, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) initiated a coordinated research project (CRP) in 2018 for the analysis of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) Loss of Flow Without Scram (LOFWOS) Test #13. The impact of nuclear data uncertainties on neutronics parameters was previously investigated based on the COMMARA-2.0 covariance matrix. Since the transient simulation results are very sensitive to certain reactivity coefficients, it was decided to employ rigorous uncertainty propagation methods to quantify the impact of nuclear data uncertainties on the best-estimate predication of FFTF LOFWOS Test #13. The DAKOTA code is used to propagate neutronic uncertainties through SAS4A/SASSYS-1 transient simulations, while taking into account spatial and reaction-wise correlations within these uncertainties. This study shows that the remaining discrepancies observed between the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) best-estimate results and the experimental measurements can be partly explained by the uncertainty associated with Gas Expansion Module (GEM) worth, which contributes the majority of the overall nuclear data uncertainty on the output from the FFTF LOFWOS Test #13 transient simulation. This study also confirmed the importance of including spatial and reaction-wise correlations of nuclear data uncertainties on feedback coefficients in the uncertainty propagation to avoid under-estimating their impact during the transient simulations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Scattering Calorimeter FY24 Deliverable Report

A simulation-based method has been developed to prototype new detector designs for nuclear data measurements utilizing neutron scattering. This method uses representative physics inputs for signal and background generation, full detector resolution smearing benchmarked by experimental data, and a neutron beam timing simulation to produce analyzable output like a physical measurement. A test case has been studied using a hybrid time-of-flight calorimeter detector for scattering cross-section measurements on 239 Pu with 1-5 MeV incident monoenergetic neutrons. Data analysis methods have been developed to perform event-level particle reconstruction and reaction channel discrimination. This analysis has been used to estimate the capability of the test detector to perform simultaneous scattering and fission cross section measurements, as well as its ability to provide neutron spectra and particle angular information.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Updates and Validation for the n+ 63,65 Cu Cross Sections [Abstract]

The neutron induced total, elastic, and capture cross sections of 63,65 Cu isotopes were selected for evaluation in the resolved and unresolved resonance energy ranges by the National Criticality Safety Program to resolve discrepancies related to benchmark performance. This is especially evident for the series of ZEUS benchmarks in which copper is used as a reflector. Because copper is also used as structural material in both fission and fusion reactors, the need to address benchmark discrepancies linked to nuclear data deficiencies is a task of primary importance. The aim of this work is to describe the steps of evaluation work towards a consistent improvement of the benchmark performance. The R-matrix analysis with the SAMMY code focused on the 63 Cu(n,γ) reaction channel between 100-300 keV coupled to unresolved resonance region parameters up to 650 keV to fit average cross section data from a recent experiment. Due to the high sensitivity of many benchmarks to elastic scattering angular distribution data, especially for the 65 Cu isotope, the impact of these data was tested by generating Legendre coefficients from both resonance parameters and the Hauser-Feshbach model. Guided by the findings of Shaw et al., the performance of the current evaluation for 65 Cu was compared to that of ENDF/B-VII.1 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 by testing the reactivity coefficients corresponding to the validation suite of experimental criticality benchmarks for thermal, intermediate, and fast systems taken from the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments Project Handbook. The benchmark performance is especially sensitive to 63 Cu(n,γ) and 65 Cu elastic scattering for neutron energies in the 100–500 keV region, whereas 100 keV is the upper limit of the resolved resonance region in the ENDF/B-VIII.0 evaluations for 63,65 Cu. The results highlight the need to handle the transition from the resolved resonance region to the high energy region carefully.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗