Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Plutonium Facility Personal Nuclear Accident Dosimeter

Conference ·

OSTI ID:1116862

Wysong, A. R. ^[1]; Hickman, D. P. ^[1]; Wong, C. T. ^[1]; Heinrichs, D. P. ^[1]; Scorby, J. C. ^[1]; Merritt, M. J. ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

The LLNL Plutonium Facility contains significant quantities of fissile mass and thus must be able to provide dose estimates to effected individuals in the unlikely case of a nuclear criticality accident to meet the regulations set forth in the Code of Federal regulations, Section 10CFR835.1304, Nuclear Accident Dosimetry. In order to do this, the LLNL personal nuclear accident dosimeter (pNAD) design provides a robust capability for measuring fluence in four approximate energy ranges; thermal (0.025 eV); 1 eV - 1MeV; 1 - 3 MeV; and greater than 3 MeV. These ranges are investigated using metal foils (Au, Cu, and In) and a sulfur pellet for neutron activation analysis, and a Panasonic Thermoluminescent Dosimeter (TLD) for gamma dose measurement. Shielding materials are designed to remove thermal neutron contributions with minimal interference and chemical interactions with the detectors. For validation of the dosimeter, experiments were conducted at CEA-Valduc in October 2009 using the SILENE reactor and in September 2010 using the CALIBAN reactor. The SILENE and CALIBAN reactors were operated in pulse mode providing brief power excursions simulating nuclear criticality accidents. Results from the experiments have demonstrated the LLNL pNAD design to be effective at evaluating the fluence dose in each of the four energy regions from this spectrum.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 1116862
• Report Number(s): LLNL-CONF-491349
• Resource Relation: Conference: 9. International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety (ICNC2011), Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom), 19-22 Sep 2011; Related Information: https://www.ans.org/meetings/view-120/
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Dosimetry
Accident Response
Foil Activation
Personal Nuclear Accident Dosimeter (pNAD)
Panasonic Thermoluminescent Dosimeter (TLD)
Gamma Dose Measurement
SILENE Reactor
CALIBAN reactor
Fissile Mass