Future of the MUSiC Experiment Data

Conference · Wed Oct 04 04:00:00 EDT 2023

OSTI ID:2204854

McKenzie, George ^[1]; Darby, Flynn ^[2]; Hutchinson, Jesson ^[1]; McSpaden, Alex ^[1]; Misurek, Lauren ^[1]; Ogren, Kris ^[1]; Sanchez, Rene ^[1]; Weldon, Robert ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

The Measurements of Uranium Subcritical and Critical (MUSiC) experiment was a highly enriched uranium (HEU) experiment performed at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) executed between December 2020 and April 2021. The experiment intended to measure criticality and reactor kinetics parameters in a bare HEU system. The experiment concurrently measured radiation signatures from the system while utilizing different neutron source types. This was an attempt to benchmark both detectors and analysis techniques against one another for identical measurements. The experiment consisted of the Rocky Flats HEU hemi-shells constructed into ten configurations spanning between deeply subcritical (about 14 kgs) to supercritical (about 60 kgs). Two of the ten configurations were supercritical and the other eight were subcritical. The two supercritical configurations, often referred to as the critical configurations, were documented into an International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) benchmark evaluation and submitted to the technical review group (TRG). The subcritical configurations of the MUSiC experiment were examined using three different detection systems. The systems include: the NoMAD He-3 neutron detector which consists of 15 He-3 tubes surrounded by a polyethylene matrix, a liquid scintillator system called the Rossi-α Measurement Rapid Organic Discriminating Detector (RAM-RODD), and a trans-stilbene organic scintillator array (OSCAR) provided by the University of Michigan. The NoMAD and RAM-RODD data are planned to be evaluated in two separate ICSBEP evaluations utilizing neutron noise methods such as Feynman Variance-to-Mean, Rossi-α and the pulsed neutron source method. Each of the subcritical configurations were examined using three different source types including: a Cf-252 source in the center, with only the intrinsic neutron source in the HEU, and with an external D-T neutron generator.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 2204854
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--23-2612
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
Benchmark
Critical Experiments
Feynman Variance-to-Mean
HEU
Integral Experiments
Neutron Noise
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Rossi-α