Industrial applications of photonuclear resonance excitation

Photonuclear resonance excitation refers to a variety of photonuclear interaction processes that lead to the excitation of a nucleus from some initial state to a higher energy nuclear state. Typical excited nuclear state lifetimes are short, ranging from nanoseconds to femtoseconds or less; however, some isotopes have unusually long-lived excited nuclear energy states, or isomers. This dissertation examines the feasibility of using bremsstrahlung irradiation sources to produce isomers for industrial applications. In contrast with charged particle based isomer production, the use of high energy photons allows for the irradiation and production of isomers in bulk materials. The commercial availability of reliable, high power industrial electron accelerators means that isomer activities sufficient for industrial applications may be achieved using bremsstrahlung, in contrast with neutron based approaches where suitable neutron sources of sufficient intensity for these applications are lacking. In order to design a system for creating nuclear isomers using photons, the resonant photon absorption isomeric excitation cross section must be known. Unlike neutron absorption and scattering cross sections, comparatively little information exists for photon isomeric excitation. To address this, a theoretical model based upon statistical probability distributions of nuclear energy levels has been developed for calculating photon excitation cross sections at energies below neutron and proton binding energies; the ideal region of operation for most applications in order to minimize long term activation of materials. Isomeric excitation cross sections calculated using this technique have been compared with experimentally measured values and are found to agree to within a factor of two or better.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Chichester, David Lee, 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence M. Lidsky.

• Nuclear Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/29298
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/29298

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29298