Delayed neutrons from the neutron irradiation of ²³⁵U
Abstract
A series of experiments was performed with the Texas A&M University Nuclear
Science Center Reactor (NSCR) to verify ²³⁵U delayed neutron emission rates. A
custom device was created to accurately measure a sample's pneumatic flight time and
the Nuclear Science Center's (NSC's) pneumatic transfer system (PTS) was redesigned
to reduce a sample's pneumatic flight time from over 1,600 milliseconds to less than 450
milliseconds. Four saturation irradiations were performed at reactor powers of 100 and
200 kW for 300 seconds and one burst irradiation was performed using a $1.61 pulse
producing 19.11 MW-s of energy.
Experimental results agreed extremely well with those of Keepin. By comparing
the first ten seconds of collected data, the first saturation irradiation deviated ~1.869%
with a dead time of 2 microseconds, while the burst irradiation deviated ~0.303% with a
dead time of 5 microseconds. Saturation irradiations one, three and four were
normalized to the initial count rate of saturation irradiation two to determine the system
reproducibility, and deviated ~0.449%, ~0.343% and ~0.389%, respectively.
Subject
Flight Time SensorPTS
Delayed Neutron Precursors
Counting Station
Delayed Neutrons
U-235
Neutron Irradiation
NSCR
Nuclear Science Center
DNP
Burst Irradiation
Pneumatic Transfer System
Saturation Irradiation
NSC
Nuclear Science Center Reactor
Citation
Heinrich, Aaron David (2008). Delayed neutrons from the neutron irradiation of ²³⁵U. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /85943.
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