DOE OSTI2019
A Neutron-Diagnosed Subcritical Experiment (NDSE) proof-of-principle setup exists at area-11 in Nevada. An exquisite set of gamma-ray flux die-away data has been obtained at this facility for a number of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) objects, including objects referred to as IV, IV', IV'' (the object IV series), IIIa, and IIIb (the object III series). These objects are constructed via a set of hemi-spherical concentric HEU shells (known as the Rocky Flats shells), surrounded by a sphere of aluminum (Al), encased in an outer sphere of high-density polyethylene (HDP). The “as built” detailed MCNP-calculated k eff values obtained by Goorley, for the object IV and III series, are listed in Table II. These model calculations contain detailed information about the inner and outer radii and masses of each hemi-shell used to make each of the objects. Objects IV', and IV'' were obtained by replacing inner HEU shells with Al. The low k eff of object IIIa was obtained by substituting a single HEU shell, with an inner radius of ~5 cm, with an Al shell. For object IIIb the substitution was a little further out but only in one hemi-shell. Except for the inner most shell (ball), all HEU shells have a thickness close to 0.333 cm. Previously the k eff of objects IV', IV'', IIIa, and IIIb, were determined from measured gamma ray die-away data via an analysis using a simple modification of the density of the HEU in our simple three layered model (HEU, Al, and HDP) of object IV including the outer safety can. This was done to see the quality of the inference and investigate any limitations associated with not using detailed information about the known perturbations used to make these objects. In this work, we built models (priors) of objects IV', IV'', IIIa, and IIIb that make use of our knowledge about the nature of the perturbations. With these models, instead of adjusting the density of the HEU in our object IV model to match the data from objects IV', IV'', IIIa, and IIIb, as done previously, we will be able to (in future studies) adjust r AL , and r i to infer the k eff of the corresponding objects.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗