{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/72834"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/72834","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Modern Rossi alpha measurements","abstract":"The Rossi-α method determines the prompt neutron decay constant in a nuclear fissioning system at or near delayed critical. Knowledge of the prompt neutron decay constant is important for a critical system as it is a major contributor to the dynamic system behavior. The classical method for the Rossi experiment used gated circuitry to track the time when a neutron was incident upon the detector. The downside of this method is that the circuitry was complex and only one single fission chain could be measured at a time. The modern method allows many chains to be measured simultaneously by a pulse time tagging system such as the LANL custom designed List-mode module. This thesis examines the implementation of the modern Rossi-α method on the all highly enriched uranium, HEU, Zeus experiment. Measurements are taken at several subcritical configurations, at critical in the presence of a source, and at one supercritical point. During the experiment, the List-mode module generates time tags of incoming neutron pulses. After the experiment, this list of neutron pulses is complied using custom software into a histogram. This histogram is fit using off the shelf graphing software to determine the value of α. The subcritical measurements of α are used to extrapolate α at delayed critical. The extrapolation determined the value of α at delayed critical to be α = 89910 s-1. This value is compared to the measured value of α at delayed critical which is determined to be α = 90408.4 s-1. These values differ by 0.55% which is remarkably good agreement. This thesis also examines the expected value of α using a Monte Carlo transport code, MCNP. MCNP determined the value of α at delayed critical to be 100048 ± 0.584 s-1. This result differs by 11.3% from the extrapolated value of α determined experimentally. When compared to systems with similar neutron spectra, the measured value of α fits well in comparison to historical measurements.","abstract_html":"The Rossi-α method determines the prompt neutron decay constant in a nuclear fissioning system at or near delayed critical. Knowledge of the prompt neutron decay constant is important for a critical system as it is a major contributor to the dynamic system behavior. The classical method for the Rossi experiment used gated circuitry to track the time when a neutron was incident upon the detector. The downside of this method is that the circuitry was complex and only one single fission chain could be measured at a time. The modern method allows many chains to be measured simultaneously by a pulse time tagging system such as the LANL custom designed List-mode module. This thesis examines the implementation of the modern Rossi-α method on the all highly enriched uranium, HEU, Zeus experiment. Measurements are taken at several subcritical configurations, at critical in the presence of a source, and at one supercritical point. During the experiment, the List-mode module generates time tags of incoming neutron pulses. After the experiment, this list of neutron pulses is complied using custom software into a histogram. This histogram is fit using off the shelf graphing software to determine the value of α. The subcritical measurements of α are used to extrapolate α at delayed critical. The extrapolation determined the value of α at delayed critical to be α = 89910 s-1. This value is compared to the measured value of α at delayed critical which is determined to be α = 90408.4 s-1. These values differ by 0.55% which is remarkably good agreement. This thesis also examines the expected value of α using a Monte Carlo transport code, MCNP. MCNP determined the value of α at delayed critical to be 100048 ± 0.584 s-1. This result differs by 11.3% from the extrapolated value of α determined experimentally. When compared to systems with similar neutron spectra, the measured value of α fits well in comparison to historical measurements.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["McKenzie, George"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kozlowski, Tomasz"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-01-21T19:48:42Z","date_published":"2015-01-21T19:48:42Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:07Z","subjects":["Reactor Physics","Rossi Alpha","Zeus Experiment","Neutron Measurements"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2014 George McKenzie"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/72834","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kozlowski, Tomasz"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["McKenzie, George"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2015-01-21T19:48:42Z","2014-12","2015-01-21"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Reactor Physics","Rossi Alpha","Zeus Experiment","Neutron Measurements"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2014 George McKenzie"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/72834"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The Rossi-α method determines the prompt neutron decay constant in a nuclear fissioning system at or near delayed critical. Knowledge of the prompt neutron decay constant is important for a critical system as it is a major contributor to the dynamic system behavior. The classical method for the Rossi experiment used gated circuitry to track the time when a neutron was incident upon the detector. The downside of this method is that the circuitry was complex and only one single fission chain could be measured at a time. The modern method allows many chains to be measured simultaneously by a pulse time tagging system such as the LANL custom designed List-mode module. This thesis examines the implementation of the modern Rossi-α method on the all highly enriched uranium, HEU, Zeus experiment. Measurements are taken at several subcritical configurations, at critical in the presence of a source, and at one supercritical point. During the experiment, the List-mode module generates time tags of incoming neutron pulses. After the experiment, this list of neutron pulses is complied using custom software into a histogram. This histogram is fit using off the shelf graphing software to determine the value of α. The subcritical measurements of α are used to extrapolate α at delayed critical. The extrapolation determined the value of α at delayed critical to be α = 89910 s-1. This value is compared to the measured value of α at delayed critical which is determined to be α = 90408.4 s-1. These values differ by 0.55% which is remarkably good agreement. This thesis also examines the expected value of α using a Monte Carlo transport code, MCNP. MCNP determined the value of α at delayed critical to be 100048 ± 0.584 s-1. This result differs by 11.3% from the extrapolated value of α determined experimentally. When compared to systems with similar neutron spectra, the measured value of α fits well in comparison to historical measurements.","Item withdrawn by Laura Spradlin (lspradl2@illinois.edu) on 2014-12-10T21:12:45Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 McKenzie_George.pdf: 1220634 bytes, checksum: eb6220761da0faa1a5da059a26934873 (MD5) McKenzie_George.pdf: 1223696 bytes, checksum: 32b0e33192cb0d0fe5300257eaaa142a (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2015-01-21T19:48:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 George_McKenzie.pdf: 1223696 bytes, checksum: 32b0e33192cb0d0fe5300257eaaa142a (MD5)"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Modern Rossi alpha measurements"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Kozlowski, Tomasz"],"dc:creator":["McKenzie, George"],"dc:date":["2015-01-21T19:48:42Z","2014-12","2015-01-21"],"dc:description":["The Rossi-α method determines the prompt neutron decay constant in a nuclear fissioning system at or near delayed critical. Knowledge of the prompt neutron decay constant is important for a critical system as it is a major contributor to the dynamic system behavior. The classical method for the Rossi experiment used gated circuitry to track the time when a neutron was incident upon the detector. The downside of this method is that the circuitry was complex and only one single fission chain could be measured at a time. The modern method allows many chains to be measured simultaneously by a pulse time tagging system such as the LANL custom designed List-mode module. This thesis examines the implementation of the modern Rossi-α method on the all highly enriched uranium, HEU, Zeus experiment. Measurements are taken at several subcritical configurations, at critical in the presence of a source, and at one supercritical point. During the experiment, the List-mode module generates time tags of incoming neutron pulses. After the experiment, this list of neutron pulses is complied using custom software into a histogram. This histogram is fit using off the shelf graphing software to determine the value of α. The subcritical measurements of α are used to extrapolate α at delayed critical. The extrapolation determined the value of α at delayed critical to be α = 89910 s-1. This value is compared to the measured value of α at delayed critical which is determined to be α = 90408.4 s-1. These values differ by 0.55% which is remarkably good agreement. This thesis also examines the expected value of α using a Monte Carlo transport code, MCNP. MCNP determined the value of α at delayed critical to be 100048 ± 0.584 s-1. This result differs by 11.3% from the extrapolated value of α determined experimentally. When compared to systems with similar neutron spectra, the measured value of α fits well in comparison to historical measurements.","Item withdrawn by Laura Spradlin (lspradl2@illinois.edu) on 2014-12-10T21:12:45Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 McKenzie_George.pdf: 1220634 bytes, checksum: eb6220761da0faa1a5da059a26934873 (MD5) McKenzie_George.pdf: 1223696 bytes, checksum: 32b0e33192cb0d0fe5300257eaaa142a (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2015-01-21T19:48:42Z (GMT). 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