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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
E. L. Alfonso, K. A. Moreno, H. L. Wilkens, J. S. Jaquez, A. Nikroo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 424-428
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7421
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thin gold layer is deposited as a liner on the interior of a uranium hohlraum to protect from oxidation of uranium. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry was chosen as the liner thickness measurement method for its accuracy, speed, and ease of measurement. The process is noncontact and nondestructive. The thicknesses were determined using a micro-XRF spectrometer unit with analysis software. The accuracy of the measurements was verified against qualified standards. The method was used to accurately measure gold liner thicknesses of cylindrical hohlraums, and it gave initial promising results for measuring the thickness of a boron-doped gold layer when corrected for the gold atom fraction.