Precise Calculation of Complex Radioactive Decay Chains

Abstract

This thesis documents a new approach to investigate the gamma radiation activity of the fission products of three different fuels (U-235, U-238, and U-239) exposed to three different incident neutron energy spectra (thermal, fast spectrum, and high energies). An application of the exponential moments function is used with a transmutation matrix in the calculation of complex radioactive decay chains to achieve greater precision than can be attained through current methods. The result of this research is a code which can calculate the decay products from complex radioactive decay chains with a high degree of precision while quantifying the uncertainty in gamma activity due to uncertainties in the isotope properties.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA469273

Entities

People

  • Logan J. Harr

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Algorithms
  • Beta Decay
  • Computational Science
  • Computers
  • Databases
  • Differential Equations
  • Fission Products
  • Gamma Decay
  • Gamma Rays
  • High Energy
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Precision
  • Radiation
  • Radioactive Decay
  • Spectra
  • Thermal Neutrons

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.
  • Solar Physics