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60 Years of U: Perspectives on resources, demand, and the evolving role of nuclear energy
Recent years have seen growing global interest in nuclear energy and rising confidence in the sector. For the first time since the early 2000s, there is renewed optimism about the industry’s future. This change is driven by several major factors: geopolitical developments that highlight the need for secure energy supplies, a stronger focus on resilient energy systems, national commitments to decarbonization, and rising demand for clean and reliable electricity.
Praneel P. Gulabrao, Kevin T. Clarno
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 195 | Number 2 | February 2021 | Pages 161-172
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2020.1794455
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Photon buildup is a function of energy, medium, and geometry and therefore must be specifically calculated for the case of interest. The Martian atmosphere, mostly comprising carbon dioxide, is becoming more relevant to radiation researchers and therefore warrants the study of this gas mixture’s buildup properties for ionizing photon flux resulting from the secondary effects of galactic cosmic rays and solar flares. Specifically, this work uses the MCNP6 code to develop energy absorption buildup factors in finite slab models for energies ranging from 40 keV to 15 MeV with Martian regolith as the backscattering medium. The Martian carbon dioxide cycle is accounted for by determining maximum and minimum mean densities as a function of orbital position. An isotropic point source model for the atmosphere is also developed using the geometric progression fitting function. Buildup is bounded to a factor of approximately 23 at 100 keV for normally incident photons at the top of the atmosphere. For conservatism, the design problem neglects coherent scattering but assumes bremsstrahlung effects and uses Klein-Nishina free-electron cross sections for Compton scattering.