Award Date

1-1-2002

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

William Culbreth

Number of Pages

149

Abstract

Accelerator driven subcritical systems (ADS) are one of the most viable methods for the transmutation and effective utilization of nuclear fuel. An important aspect of coupling the accelerator to a nuclear reactor is the generation of a high-energy neutron flux. The neutron flux can be generated by hitting a high-Z target composed of lead, tungsten, or other elements with a high-energy proton beam; To explore the control issues arising from coupling a proton accelerator to a subcritical reactor, an electron beam accelerator which produces a similar neutron flux can be used. The purpose of this study is to computationally predict the neutron production rate from a lead target that would couple an accelerator to a subcritical reactor assembly. MCNPX, a radiation transport code developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, was used in this study. The MCNPX predictions of photo-neutron production were compared with experimental results performed at Idaho Accelerator Centre (IAC), and showed good agreement.

Keywords

Benchmarking; Experimental; Mcnpx; Photoneutron; Production; Results; Simulation

Controlled Subject

Nuclear engineering; Materials science; Nuclear chemistry

File Format

pdf

File Size

6062.08 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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