Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Radiation Sources”

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.

At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Measurement of parameters in Indus-2 synchrotron radiation source

The paper presents the measurement of optics parameters in Indus-2 synchrotron radiation source, which include betatron tune, beta function, dispersion function, natural chromaticity, corrected chromaticity, central RF frequency, momentum compaction factor, and linear betatron coupling. Two methods were used for beta function measurement; a conventional quadrupole scan method and a method using the fitting of the orbit response matrix. A robust Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was used for nonlinear least square fitting of the orbit response matrix. In this paper, detailed methods for the parameter measurements are described. The measured results are discussed and compared with the theoretical values obtained using accelerator simulation code Accelerator Toolbox in MATLAB.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Plasma Radiation Source on the Basis of the Gas Puff with Outer Plasma Shell in the Circuit of a Mega-Ampere Load Current Doubler

Characteristics of Z-pinch plasma radiation in the form of a double shell neon gas puff with outer plasma shell are investigated in the microsecond implosion mode. Experiments are performed using a GIT-12 mega-joule generator with load current doubler having a ferromagnetic core at implosion currents up to 5 MA. Conditions for matching of the nonlinear load with the mega-ampere current multiplier circuit are determined. The load parameters (plasma shell characteristics and mass and geometry of gas puff shells) are optimized on the energy supplied to the gas puff and n energy characteristics of radiation. It is established that the best modes of K-shell radiation in neon are realized for such radial distribution of the gas-puff material at which the compression velocity of the shell is close to a constant and amounts to 27–30 cm/μs. In these modes, up to 40% of energy supplied to the gas puff is converted into K-shell radiation. The reasons limiting the efficiency of the radiation source with increasing implosion current are analyzed. A modernized version of the energy supply from the current doubler to the Z-pinch is proposed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Intrinsic Radiation Source Generation with the ISC Package: Data Comparisons and Benchmarking

The characterization of radioactive emissions from unstable isotopes (intrinsic radiation) is necessary for shielding and radiological-dose calculations from radioactive materials. While most radiation transport codes, e.g., MCNP [X-5 Monte Carlo Team, 2003], provide the capability to input user prescribed source definitions, such as radioactive emissions, they do not provide the capability to calculate the correct radioactive-source definition given the material compositions. Special modifications to MCNP have been developed in the past to allow the user to specify an intrinsic source, but these modification have not been implemented into the primary source base [Estes et al., 1988]. To facilitate the description of the intrinsic radiation source from a material with a specific composition, the Intrinsic Source Constructor library (LIBISC) and MCNP Intrinsic Source Constructor (MISC) utility have been written. The combination of LIBISC and MISC will be herein referred to as the ISC package. LIBISC is a statically linkable C++ library that provides the necessary functionality to construct the intrinsic-radiation source generated by a material. Furthermore, LIBISC provides the ability use different particle-emission databases, radioactive-decay databases, and natural-abundance databases allowing the user flexibility in the specification of the source, if one database is preferred over others. LIBISC also provides functionality for aging materials and producing a thick-target bremsstrahlung photon source approximation from the electron emissions. The MISC utility links to LIBISC and facilitates the description of intrinsic-radiation sources into a format directly usable with the MCNP transport code. Through a series of input keywords and arguments the MISC user can specify the material, age the material if desired, and produce a source description of the radioactive emissions from the material in an MCNP readable format. Further details of using the MISC utility can be obtained from the user guide [Solomon, 2012]. The remainder of this report presents a discussion of the databases available to LIBISC and MISC, a discussion of the models employed by LIBISC, a comparison of the thick-target bremsstrahlung model employed, a benchmark comparison to plutonium and depleted-uranium spheres, and a comparison of the available particle-emission databases.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Estimation of Radiation Source Terms of Hanbit Unit3 Spent Fuel with Realistic Spent Fuel Data - 19043

Besides public acceptance, the construction of the dry storage facilities requires a sophisticated safety analysis for licensing, which needs accurate estimation of radiation source terms including the spent fuel inventories. In this work, we estimated the characteristics such as heat generations, radiotoxicities, and radioactivities of spent fuels discharged from HanBit Unit 3 using the recent realistic data of the spent fuels including detailed operational histories. The estimation was performed by writing an in-house program which automatically generates ORIGEN-S input files and processes their output files. Also, we performed the evaluation of source terms using these spent fuel assemblies. In particular, these results are compared with those obtained using a simple way with a single specific power and no cooling time between successive cycles. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2011

Tunable Radiation Source by Coupling Laser-Plasma-Generated Electrons to a Periodic Structure

Near-infrared radiation around 1000 nm generated from the interaction of a high-density MeV electron beam, obtained by impinging an intense ultrashort laser pulse on a solid target, with a metal grating is observed experimentally. Theoretical modeling and particle-in-cell simulation suggest that the radiation is caused by the Smith-Purcell mechanism. The results here indicate that tunable terahertz radiation with tens GV/m field strength can be achieved by using appropriate grating parameters.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Formation of a fine-dispersed liquid-metal target under the action of femto- and picosecond laser pulses for a laser-plasma radiation source in the extreme ultraviolet range

We report the results of studying the dynamics of deformation and fragmentation of liquid-metal droplets under the action of ultrashort laser pulses. The experiments have been performed to optimise the shape of the droplet target used in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation sources based on the laser-produced plasma using the pre-pulse technology. The pre-pulse is generated by a system incorporating a master Ti : sapphire oscillator and a regenerative amplifier, allowing one to vary the pulse duration from 50 fs to 50 ps. The power density of laser radiation at the droplet target, averaged over the pulse duration and spatial coordinates, has reached 3 × 10{sup 15} W cm{sup -2}. The production of liquid-metal droplets has been implemented by means of a droplet generator based on a nozzle with a ring piezoceramic actuator. The droplet material is the eutectic indium – tin alloy. The droplet generator could operate in the droplet and jet regime with a maximal rate of stable operation 5 and 150 kHz, respectively. The spatial stability of droplet position σ = 1% – 2% of its diameter is achieved. The size of the droplets varied within 30 – 70 μm, their velocity was 2 – 8 m s{sup -1} depending on the operation regime. (interaction of laser radiation with matter. laser plasma)

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

Radiochromic film dosimetry of HDR {sup 192}Ir source radiation fields

Purpose: A radiochromic film based dosimetry system for high dose rate (HDR) Iridium-192 brachytherapy source was described. A comparison between calibration curves established in water and Solid Water was provided. Methods: Pieces of EBT-2 model GAFCHROMIC film were irradiated in both water and Solid Water with HDR {sup 192}Ir brachytherapy source in a dose range from 0 to 50 Gy. Responses of EBT-2 GAFCHROMIC film were compared for irradiations in water and Solid Water by scaling the dose between media through Monte Carlo calculated conversion factor for both setups. To decrease uncertainty in dose delivery due to positioning of the film piece with respect to the radiation source, traceable calibration irradiations were performed in a parallel-opposed beam setup. Results: The EBT-2 GAFCHROMIC film based dosimetry system described in this work can provide an overall one-sigma dose uncertainty of 4.12% for doses above 1 Gy. The ratio of dose delivered to the sensitive layer of the film in water to the dose delivered to the sensitive layer of the film in Solid Water was calculated using Monte Carlo simulations to be 0.9941 {+-} 0.0007. Conclusions: A radiochromic film based dosimetry system using only the green color channel of a flatbed document scanner showed superior precision if used alone in a dose range that extends up to 50 Gy, which greatly decreases the complexity of work. In addition, Solid Water material was shown to be a viable alternative to water in performing radiochromic film based dosimetry with HDR {sup 192}Ir brachytherapy sources.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Detecting Low-level Radiation Sources Using Border Monitoring Gamma Sensors

We consider a problem of detecting a low-level radiation source using a network of Gamma spectral sensors placed on the periphery of a monitored region. We propose a computationally light-weight, correlation-based method which is primarily intended for systems with limited computing capacity. Sensor measurements are combined at the fusion by first generating decisions at each time step and then taking their majority vote within a time widow. At each time step, decisions are generated using two strategies: (i) SUM method based on a threshold decision on a correlation statistic derived from measurements from all sensors, and (ii) OR method based on logical-OR of threshold decisions based on correlations statistics of individual sensor measurements. We derive analytical performance bounds for false alarm rates of SUM and OR methods, and show that their performance is enhanced by the temporal smoothing of majority vote within a time window. Using measurements from a test campaign, we generate a border monitoring scenario with twelve 2"x2" NaI Gamma sensors deployed on the periphery of 42m x 42m outdoor region. A Cs-137 source is moved in a straight-line across this region, starting several meters outside and finally moving away from it. We illustrate the performance of both correlation-based detection methods, and compare their performances with each other and with a particle filter method. Overall, under small false-alarm conditions, the OR fusion is found to produce better detection performance.

Sen, Satyabrata↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simulations and Experimental Verifications of an Algorithm for Radiation Source Mapping and Navigational Path Generation

Accurate and efficient mapping and localization of both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation sources are important across many different fields. As such, a versatile mapping and navigational path generation algorithm, which can be applied to any point source measurements that follow an inverse-square characteristic, was developed using non-linear least squares methods. Forty thousand simulations were performed on the algorithm, which located sources successfully in a 10 m × 10 m × 10 m three-dimensional space with a success rate of over 80% across different noise functions, given a proportional constant of 10 to 1,000. The algorithm was also verified experimentally with small-scale radioactive decontamination of a 70 cm × 70 cm surface and localization of a lost Wi-Fi router in a 70 m × 70 m open field. One hundred twenty-one measurements were taken from each experiment, which were then fed into the algorithm for navigation. For the radioactive 137Cs source, the estimated locations were within 7 cm × 7 cm of the answer in 79.3% of the scenarios, while the Wi-Fi router was located to within 7 m × 7 m in 57.9% of the tests. In general, the method requires much less information and data than a geographically comprehensive survey and thus shows a lot of potential for practical applications, such as lost source retrieval with unmanned aerial vehicles, small-scale decontamination, mapping undocumented Wi-Fi routers or radio towers, and radiation simulation with radio signals. Here, the different failure modes, desirable features, and potential improvements were also identified but remain as future work.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Radiation Source Mapping with Bayesian Inverse Methods

In this work, we present a method to map the spectral and spatial distributions of radioactive sources using a limited number of detectors. Locating and identifying radioactive materials is important for border monitoring, in accounting for special nuclear material in processing facilities, and in cleanup operations following a radioactive material spill. Most methods to analyze these types of problems make restrictive assumptions about the distribution of the source. In contrast, the source mapping method presented here allows an arbitrary three-dimensional distribution in space and a gamma peak distribution in energy. To apply the method, the problem is cast as an inverse problem where the system’s geometry and material composition are known and fixed, while the radiation source distribution is sought. A probabilistic Bayesian approach is used to solve the resulting inverse problem since the system of equations is ill-posed. The posterior is maximized with a Newton optimization method. The probabilistic approach also provides estimates of the confidence in the final source map prediction. A set of adjoint, discrete ordinates flux solutions, obtained in this work by the Denovo code, is required to efficiently compute detector responses from a candidate source distribution. These adjoint fluxes form the linear mapping from the state space to the response space. The test of the method’s success is simultaneously locating a set of 137 Cs and 60 Co gamma sources in a room. This test problem is solved using experimental measurements that we collected for this purpose. Because of the weak sources available for use in the experiment, some of the expected photopeaks were not distinguishable from the Compton continuum. However, by supplanting 14 flawed measurements (out of a total of 69) with synthetic responses computed by MCNP, the proof-of-principle source mapping was successful. The locations of the sources were predicted within 25 cm for two of the sources and 90 cm for the third, in a room with an ~4-x 4-m floor plan. Finally, the predicted source intensities were within a factor of ten of their true value.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Novel particle and radiation sources and advanced materials

The influence Norman Rostoker had on the lives of those who had the pleasure of knowing him is profound. The skills and knowledge I gained as a graduate student researching collective ion acceleration has fueled a career that has evolved from particle beam physics to include particle and radiation source development and advanced materials research, among many other exciting projects. The graduate research performed on collective ion acceleration was extended by others to form the backbone for laser driven plasma ion acceleration. Several years after graduate school I formed FM Technologies, Inc., (FMT), and later Electron Technologies, Inc. (ETI). Currently, as the founder and president of both FMT and ETI, the Rostoker influence can still be felt. One technology that we developed is a self-bunching RF fed electron gun, called the Micro-Pulse Gun (MPG). The MPG has important applications for RF accelerators and microwave tube technology, specifically clinically improved medical linacs and “green” klystrons. In addition to electron beam and RF source research, knowledge of materials and material interactions gained indirectly in graduate school has blossomed into breakthroughs in materials joining technologies. Most recently, silicon carbide joining technology has been developed that gives robust helium leak tight, high temperature and high strength joints between ceramic-to-ceramic and ceramic-to-metal. This joining technology has the potential to revolutionize the ethylene production, nuclear fuel and solar receiver industries by finally allowing for the practical use of silicon carbide as furnace coils, fuel rods and solar receptors, respectively, which are applications that have been needed for decades.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1972

Theoretical analysis of rough-surface shadowing from point-source radiation.

The shadowing function, defined as the probability that a point on a rough surface will be illuminated by radiation from a source at fixed height above the surface, is considered. An exact expression for this probability is derived and evaluated approximately when the surface elevation is a normal random process. The effect of surface correlation is considered and shown to be appreciable. Several numerical computations of the shadowing function are presented.

Hardin, J. C.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Wave Nature of the Transverse Doppler Effect and the “Red” and “Blue” Frequency Shift Anomaly in an Electromagnetic Wave from a Moving Radiation Source

The electromagnetic field of a harmonic oscillator moving at a constant velocity has been analyzed. The expression for calculating the Doppler frequency shift at relativistic velocities of its motion is derived using the classical electromagnetic theory. It is shown that the transverse Doppler effect is a special case and also differs from zero in the wave theory. With an increasing velocity of the radiation source, the “red” frequency shift in an electromagnetic wave prevails over the “blue” shift more strongly. The noncontradictory nature of the proposed model relative to the well-known experimental data has been demonstrated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Parallax diagnostics of radiation source geometric dilution for iron opacity experiments

Experimental tests are in progress to evaluate the accuracy of the modeled iron opacity at solar interior conditions [J. E. Bailey et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 058101 (2009)]. The iron sample is placed on top of the Sandia National Laboratories z-pinch dynamic hohlraum (ZPDH) radiation source. The samples are heated to 150–200 eV electron temperatures and 7× 10{sup 21}–4× 10{sup 22} cm{sup −3} electron densities by the ZPDH radiation and backlit at its stagnation [T. Nagayama et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 056502 (2014)]. The backlighter attenuated by the heated sample plasma is measured by four spectrometers along ±9° with respect to the z-pinch axis to infer the sample iron opacity. Here, we describe measurements of the source-to-sample distance that exploit the parallax of spectrometers that view the half-moon-shaped sample from ±9°. The measured sample temperature decreases with increased source-to-sample distance. This distance must be taken into account for understanding the sample heating.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗