1,074 research outputs found
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Decay Heat Code Validation Activities at ORNL: Supporting Expansion of NRC Regulatory Guide 3.54
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has a long history of involvement in the development and validation of the ORIGEN series of isotope summation codes and nuclear data libraries, widely recognized and used to predict the decay heat for spent nuclear fuel. In particular, the ORIGEN-S code, the depletion/decay module of the SCALE code system, has been extensively validated using experimental isotopic assay data and decay heat measurements for commercial spent fuel. This work was used in the development of the technical basis for NRC Regulatory Guide 3.54 on spent fuel decay heat. The bulk of the experimental data used to validate spent fuel decay heat predictions are from programs of the 1970s and 1980s and consequently involve older-design fuel assemblies with a relatively low enrichment and burnup. This has led to a situation where the spent fuel now being discharged from operating reactors extends well beyond the regime of the experimental data and area of code applicability based o n the data. The absence of validation data for modern fuel designs has potentially serious consequences for decay heat predictions in terms of added safety factors to account for larger uncertainties and lower volumetric transport and storage capacities
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Strategies for Application of Isotopic Uncertainties in Burnup Credit
Uncertainties in the predicted isotopic concentrations in spent nuclear fuel represent one of the largest sources of overall uncertainty in criticality calculations that use burnup credit. The methods used to propagate the uncertainties in the calculated nuclide concentrations to the uncertainty in the predicted neutron multiplication factor (k{sub eff}) of the system can have a significant effect on the uncertainty in the safety margin in criticality calculations and ultimately affect the potential capacity of spent fuel transport and storage casks employing burnup credit. Methods that can provide a more accurate and realistic estimate of the uncertainty may enable increased spent fuel cask capacity and fewer casks needing to be transported, thereby reducing regulatory burden on licensee while maintaining safety for transporting spent fuel. This report surveys several different best-estimate strategies for considering the effects of nuclide uncertainties in burnup-credit analyses. The potential benefits of these strategies are illustrated for a prototypical burnup-credit cask design. The subcritical margin estimated using best-estimate methods is discussed in comparison to the margin estimated using conventional bounding methods of uncertainty propagation. To quantify the comparison, each of the strategies for estimating uncertainty has been performed using a common database of spent fuel isotopic assay measurements for pressurized-light-water reactor fuels and predicted nuclide concentrations obtained using the current version of the SCALE code system. The experimental database applied in this study has been significantly expanded to include new high-enrichment and high-burnup spent fuel assay data recently published for a wide range of important burnup-credit actinides and fission products. Expanded rare earth fission-product measurements performed at the Khlopin Radium Institute in Russia that contain the only known publicly-available measurement for {sup 103}Rh have also been included
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Evaluation of Cross-Section Sensitivities in Computing Burnup Credit Fission Product Concentrations
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Interim Staff Guidance 8 (ISG-8) for burnup credit covers actinides only, a position based primarily on the lack of definitive critical experiments and adequate radiochemical assay data that can be used to quantify the uncertainty associated with fission product credit. The accuracy of fission product neutron cross sections is paramount to the accuracy of criticality analyses that credit fission products in two respects: (1) the microscopic cross sections determine the reactivity worth of the fission products in spent fuel and (2) the cross sections determine the reaction rates during irradiation and thus influence the accuracy of predicted final concentrations of the fission products in the spent fuel. This report evaluates and quantifies the importance of the fission product cross sections in predicting concentrations of fission products proposed for use in burnup credit. The study includes an assessment of the major fission products in burnup credit and their production precursors. Finally, the cross-section importances, or sensitivities, are combined with the importance of each major fission product to the system eigenvalue (k{sub eff}) to determine the net importance of cross sections to k{sub eff}. The importances established the following fission products, listed in descending order of priority, that are most likely to benefit burnup credit when their cross-section uncertainties are reduced: {sup 151}Sm, {sup 103}Rh, {sup 155}Eu, {sup 150}Sm, {sup 152}Sm, {sup 153}Eu, {sup 154}Eu, and {sup 143}Nd
Hyptiogastrites electrinus Cockerell, 1917, from Myanmar (Burmese) amber: Redescription and its placement within the Evanioidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera)
© The Natural History MuseumThe wasp Hyptiogastrites electrinus Cockerell, 1917, from the Lower Cretaceous (Upper Albian) Myanmar (Burmese) amber is redescribed from the well-preserved holotype and its relationship with extant Aulacidae and Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea) evaluated. Although the wing venation is identical to the majority of extant Hyptiogastrinae (Gasteruptiidae), phylogenetic analysis places H. electrinus as sister taxon to the Aulacidae s.str., (i.e. Aulacus + Pristaulacus). Thus, Hyptiogastrinae is confirmed as having a restricted Southern Hemisphere distribution (i.e. Australasia and South America). Consistent with this result, H. electrinus is included within a slightly more broadly defined Aulacidae rather than being placed in a new monotypic family. Characters that align this species with the Aulacidae include: having small circular eyes, percurrent Y-shaped notauli, pyramidal shape of the propodeum and the presence of a groove or ovipositor guide on the hind coxae.John T. Jennings, Andrew D. Austin and Nicholas B. Steven
Skeletal Morphology of Opius dissitus and Biosteres carbonarius (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with a Discussion of Terminology
The Braconidae, a family of parasitic wasps, constitute a major taxonomic challenge with an estimated diversity of 40,000 to 120,000 species worldwide, only 18,000 of which have been described to date. The skeletal morphology of braconids is still not adequately understood and the terminology is partly idiosyncratic, despite the fact that anatomical features form the basis for most taxonomic work on the group. To help address this problem, we describe the external skeletal morphology of Opius dissitus Muesebeck 1963 and Biosteres carbonarius Nees 1834, two diverse representatives of one of the least known and most diverse braconid subfamilies, the Opiinae. We review the terminology used to describe skeletal features in the Ichneumonoidea in general and the Opiinae in particular, and identify a list of recommend terms, which are linked to the online Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology. The morphology of the studied species is illustrated with SEM-micrographs, photos and line drawings. Based on the examined species, we discuss intraspecific and interspecific morphological variation in the Opiinae and point out character complexes that merit further study
Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−
The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0→ K ∗0 μ + μ − are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions
Measurement of the CKM angle γ from a combination of B±→Dh± analyses
A combination of three LHCb measurements of the CKM angle γ is presented. The decays B±→D K± and
B±→Dπ± are used, where D denotes an admixture of D0 and D0 mesons, decaying into K+K−, π+π−, K±π∓, K±π∓π±π∓, K0Sπ+π−, or K0S K+K− final states. All measurements use a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. Combining results from B±→D K± decays alone a best-fit value of
γ =72.0◦ is found, and confidence intervals are set
γ ∈ [56.4,86.7]◦ at 68% CL,
γ ∈ [42.6,99.6]◦ at 95% CL.
The best-fit value of γ found from a combination of results from B±→Dπ± decays alone, is γ =18.9◦,
and the confidence intervals
γ ∈ [7.4,99.2]◦ ∪ [167.9,176.4]◦ at 68% CL
are set, without constraint at 95% CL. The combination of results from B± → D K± and B± → Dπ±
decays gives a best-fit value of γ =72.6◦ and the confidence intervals
γ ∈ [55.4,82.3]◦ at 68% CL,
γ ∈ [40.2,92.7]◦ at 95% CL
are set. All values are expressed modulo 180◦, and are obtained taking into account the effect of D0–D0
mixing
Observation of two new baryon resonances
Two structures are observed close to the kinematic threshold in the mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding
to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb recorded by the LHCb experiment.
In the quark model, two baryonic resonances with quark content are
expected in this mass region: the spin-parity and
states, denoted and .
Interpreting the structures as these resonances, we measure the mass
differences and the width of the heavier state to be
MeV,
MeV,
MeV, where the first and second
uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The width of the
lighter state is consistent with zero, and we place an upper limit of
MeV at 95% confidence level. Relative
production rates of these states are also reported.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma)
The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma
and Bs0 -> phi gamma has been measured using 0.37 fb-1 of pp collisions at a
centre of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The
value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.12 +/- 0.08
^{+0.06}_{-0.04} ^{+0.09}_{-0.08}, where the first uncertainty is statistical,
the second systematic and the third is associated to the ratio of fragmentation
fractions fs/fd. Using the world average for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (4.33 +/-
0.15) x 10^{-5}, the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be
(3.9 +/- 0.5) x 10^{-5}, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 2 table
Observation of excited Lambda_b0 baryons
Using pp collision data corresponding to 1.0 fb-1 integrated luminosity
collected by the LHCb detector, two narrow states are observed in the
Lambda_b0pi+pi- spectrum with masses 5911.97 +- 0.12(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +-
0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2 and 5919.77 +- 0.08(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +-
0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2. The significances of the observations are 5.2 and
10.2 standard deviations, respectively. These states are interpreted as the
orbitally-excited Lambda_b0 baryons, Lambda_b*0(5912) and Lambda_b*0(5920).Comment: Replaced by version published in Phys. Rev. Lett, modified fit with
better mass resolution treatmen
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