Masters Theses

Abstract

"A survey of projected medical isotope requirements in the future indicates a need for the United States to further develop its radionuclide production capabilities. Due to this need to increase production capability, a neutronic design for an accelerator target to be used to produce medical isotopes at the high-energy end of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has been completed. The nominal target is designed for use at the of the LANSCE accelerator which will provide an 800 MeV, 0.75 mA proton beam. The nominal target design consists of 25 rabbit locations where target samples, selected for their production of certain medical isotopes of interest, may be inserted and removed during operation. The computer code suite MCNPX/CINDER'90, was used to predict isotope yields in these targets. The code was benchmarked and has been shown to produce good results as compared to experimental data gathered from LANSCE operations. Flux distribution investigations and sensitivity studies were performed on the target design to provide recommendations on neutron/proton design improvements. Several design changes were made due to the results of these studies. Isotope production in the target system has been studied and it is shown that the system can produce a wide array of isotopes in significant quantities. The sale of these isotopes could offset the costs of the system and LANSCE. The wide range of production capabilities will allow this isotope production system to adjust to the needs of the ever-changing nuclear medicine field"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Mueller, Gary Edward, 1954-

Committee Member(s)

Kumar, A. S. (Arvind S.)
Crosbie, A. L. (Alfred L.)
Pasamehmetoglu, Kemal O.

Department(s)

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science

Degree Name

M.S. in Nuclear Engineering

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

Fall 1999

Pagination

xiv, 237 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-236).

Rights

© 1999 Jeffrey Dean Shelton, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 7710

Print OCLC #

43931358

Electronic OCLC #

1066239205

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