Masters Theses

Abstract

"The research presented here is based on the well defined Non-Destructive Analysis (NDA) of UO2 fuel using gamma spectroscopy of 137Cs and other related isotopes; however, limited investigation has occurred using these NDA techniques for plutonium based mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. Therefore, since no MOX fuel assemblies were available for this research, simulations were performed using the computer code ORIGEN-ARP to first determine fission products that could serve as a signature for a burnup correlation. Further investigation determined that 137Cs and 106Ru-106Rh were suitable MOX NDA fission products. The simulations confirm that both 137Cs and 106Ru will provide a linear correlation with burnup when exclusively applied to MOX fuel assemblies. However, this absolute measurement requires knowing key criteria about the gamma detection system, as well as, in the case of applying 106Ru, knowing whether the fuel is MOX or UO2. Therefore, 106Ru can also be used in ratio with cesium to form a ratio almost independent of enrichment and power history, and even with the short half-life of 106Ru, normalizing with a history independent fission product such as cesium mitigates fluctuations in operational history. Experiments at the Missouri University of Science and Technology research reactor indicate that a viable technique exists for detecting gamma peaks of interest. The proof-of-concept experiments conducted at the research reactor provide convincing evidence that MOX fuel will provide significantly better results which can be applied to discrimination strategies for nuclear material safeguards, as well as determining MOX fuel burnup during outage operations"--Abstract, page iv.

Advisor(s)

Usman, Shoaib

Committee Member(s)

Kumar, A. S. (Arvind S.)
Mueller, Gary Edward, 1954-

Department(s)

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science

Degree Name

M.S. in Nuclear Engineering

Sponsor(s)

Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (U.S.)

Comments

Many thanks for the Department of Energy Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative for funding this work.

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Fall 2008

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

  • MOX fuel burnup analysis using non-destructive gamma spectroscopy -- Part 1, ORIGEN simulation and candidate peaks identification
  • MOX fuel burnup analysis using non-destructive gamma spectroscopy -- Part 2, Feasibility of ¹⁰⁶Ru peak

Pagination

x, 55 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 53-54).

Rights

© 2008 Matthew L. Dennis, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Gamma ray spectrometryMixed oxide fuels (Nuclear engineering)Nondestructive testingPlutonium as fuel

Thesis Number

T 9431

Print OCLC #

313835411

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