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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Mohinder Singh, Akash Tondon, Bhajan Singh, B. S. Sandhu
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 10 | October 2022 | Pages 1172-1193
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2067737
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work deals with the evaluation of interaction cross sections, effective atomic number, and effective electron density at gamma photon energies, not available from standard radioisotopes. The Compton scattering technique is used to obtain the required gamma energies within a specific range of energies from 241.8 to 401.8 keV to perform the radiation measurements. Radiation interaction parameters of some inorganic compounds (high-Z rare-earth nitrate hexahydrate), namely, Lanthanum(III) nitrate hexahydrate [La(NO3)3.6H2O] and Samarium(III) nitrate hexahydrate [Sm(NO3)3.6H2O], soluble in low-Z organic solvent (acetone) are evaluated. Six scattering angles are chosen to obtain six (not available from standard radioisotopes) Compton scattered energies to perform narrow-beam transmission experiments. An NaI(Tl) scintillation detector is used to detect the transmitted flux from the different solutions in various proportions. Photon interaction parameters useful in vast basic and applied fields are evaluated. The present measured results, obtained from the Compton scattered technique, are found to be in good agreement with the computed values of radiation interaction parameters obtained from the WinXCom program. The present data on rare-earth solutions have definite scientific importance in nuclear and radiation physics and fill in the gap of nonavailability of such data for radiation workers at these specific energies.
