Ayman I. Hawari

Neutron-antineutron oscillations: Theoretical status and experimental prospects

This paper summarizes the relevant theoretical developments, outlines some ideas to improve experimental searches for free neutron-antineutron oscillations, and suggests avenues for future improvement in the experimental sensitivity.

A single-ligand ultra-microporous MOF for precombustion CO2 capture and hydrogen purification

A single small-ligand–based ultra-microporous MOF showing high CO2 selectivity and PSA working capacity for H2 purification. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) built from a single small ligand typically have high stability, are rigid, and have syntheses that are often simple and easily scalable. However, they are normally ultra-microporous and do not have large surface areas amenable to gas separation applications. We report an ultra-microporous (3.5 and 4.8 Å pores) Ni-(4-pyridylcarboxylate)2 with a cubic framework that exhibits exceptionally high CO2/H2 selectivities (285 for 20:80 and 230 for 40:60 mixtures at 10 bar, 40°C) and working capacities (3.95 mmol/g), making it suitable for hydrogen purification under typical precombustion CO2 capture conditions (1- to 10-bar pressure swing). It exhibits facile CO2 adsorption-desorption cycling and has CO2 self-diffusivities of ~3 × 10−9 m2/s, which is two orders higher than that of zeolite 13X and comparable to other top-performing MOFs for this application. Simulations reveal a high density of binding sites that allow for favorable CO2-CO2 interactions and large cooperative binding energies. Ultra-micropores generated by a small ligand ensures hydrolytic, hydrostatic stabilities, shelf life, and stability toward humid gas streams.

First Measurement of the Neutron beta Asymmetry with Ultracold Neutrons

We report the first measurement of an angular correlation parameter in neutron beta decay using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). We utilize UCN with energies below about 200 neV, which we guide and store for approximately 30 s in a Cu decay volume. The interaction of the neutron magnetic dipole moment with a static 7 T field external to the decay volume provides a 420 neV potential energy barrier to the spin state parallel to the field, polarizing the UCN before they pass through an adiabatic fast passage spin flipper and enter a decay volume, situated within a 1 T field in a 2x2pi solenoidal spectrometer. We determine a value for the beta-asymmetry parameter A_{0}=-0.1138+/-0.0046+/-0.0021.

Design and Performance of a Thermal Neutron Imaging Facility at the North Carolina State University PULSTAR Reactor

A thermal neutron imaging facility has been set up at the North Carolina State University PULSTAR reactor. The PULSTAR is an open pool light water moderated 1 MWth research reactor with six beam tubes. The present facility is set up on beam tube # 5 of the reactor. The facility is intended to have radiographic and tomographic capabilities. The design of the neutron collimator was performed using MCNP5. The collimator includes a 4-in bismuth filter followed by a 6-in single-crystal sapphire filter. Thermal neutron scattering cross-section libraries for sapphire and bismuth were generated and used in the MCNP simulation of the system. Based on the current design, the L/D of the facility ranges between 100 and 150. The neutron flux at the image plane can be varied from 1.8times106 to 7times106 n/cm2middots with a Cd-ratio of ~450. The resolution of the system for different imaging media was also estimated and found to be ~33 mum for conventional radiography film and ~110 mum for digital image plates. Initial measurements, using ASTM standards, show that the imaging facility achieves a beam quality classification of IA

Assessment of on-line burnup monitoring of pebble bed reactor fuel using passive gamma-ray spectrometry

An investigation was performed to assess the feasibility of passive gamma-ray spectrometry assay as an approach for on-line burnup determination for the Modular Pebble Bed Reactor (MPBR). In addition to its inherently safe design, a unique feature of this reactor is its multipass fuel cycle in which graphite fuel pebbles are randomly loaded and continuously circulated through the core until they reach their prescribed end-of-life burnup limit (/spl sim/80 000 MWD/MTU). Unlike the situation with conventional light water reactors, depending solely on computational methods to perform in-core fuel management will be highly inaccurate. As a result, an on-line measurement approach becomes the only accurate method to assess whether a particular pebble has reached its end-of-life burnup limit. The results of this investigation indicate that the fission products Cs-137 and Eu-154 have the potential to provide accurate and power-history-resistant signatures that can be directly correlated with burnup. Furthermore, depending on the fuel manufacturing process, artificially introduced dopants (e.g., Co) can provide gamma-ray lines that are usable for burnup monitoring. In fact, it was found that the relative activity of Co-60 to Cs-134 could form a burnup indicator that is resistant to power-history variations. In this case, the use of a relative indicator has several advantages, among them the elimination of the need for absolute knowledge of the detector full-energy peak efficiency curve and the establishment of a system quality-assurance figure of merit based on the peak area ratio of the Co lines.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Graphite at High Temperatures

Graphite, a key structural and moderator material in the proposed Generation IV roadmap, is expected to experience irradiation at temperatures up to 1800 K. In this study, a molecular dynamics (MD) code is developed for the purpose of performing atomistic simulations of high-temperature graphite. The MD computations are benchmarked against thermal expansion and mean-squared displacement data, and modifications to the potential energy function are devised as needed to fit experimental measurements. Graphite-specific alterations include a plane-by-plane center-of-mass velocity correction, anisotropy in the potential energy cutoff function, and temperature-dependent parameterization of the interatomic potential. The refined MD model is then employed to investigate the threshold displacement energy at temperatures of 300 and 1800 K. It was found that the threshold displacement energy depends strongly on the knock-on direction, yet the angle-averaged threshold energy exhibits relatively little variation with temperature.

Investigation of the Impact of Simple Carbon Interstitial Formations on Thermal Neutron Scattering in Graphite

Abstract In both the prismatic and pebble bed designs of very high temperature reactors, the graphite moderator is expected to reach exposure levels of 1021 to 1022 n/cm2 over the lifetime of the reactor. This exposure results in damage to the graphite structure. Studies of the thermal properties of irradiated graphite show changes in the thermal conductivity and (to a lesser extent) the heat capacity at fluences <1021 n/cm2. In graphite, these properties depend on the behavior of atomic vibrations (phonons) in the solid. Therefore, it can be expected that alterations in the phonon behavior that would produce changes in these properties would have an impact on the thermal neutron scattering behavior of that material. In this work, an atomistic ab initio investigation is performed to explore the potential impact of simple carbon interstitial formations on the inelastic thermal neutron scattering behavior of graphite. Using the VASP/PHONON code system, graphite supercells were modeled with and without either a single carbon interstitial or a di-interstitial (C2) molecule between the graphite planes. This resulted in the production of the phonon frequency spectra for these structures. From the phonon data, the inelastic thermal neutron scattering cross sections were generated, using the NJOY code system, at temperatures of 300 and 1200 K. A comparison of the generated cross sections shows that accounting for the interstitials in the calculations affects the cross sections mainly in the energy range from 0.01 to 0.1 eV.

Investigation of coded source neutron imaging at the north carolina state university PULSTAR reactor

A neutron imaging facility is located on beam-tube #5 of the 1-MWth PULSTAR reactor at the North Carolina State University. An investigation has been initiated to explore the application of coded imaging techniques at the facility. Coded imaging uses a mosaic of pinholes to encode an aperture, thus generating an encoded image of the object at the detector. To reconstruct the image recorded by the detector, corresponding decoding patterns are used. The optimized design of coded masks is critical for the performance of this technique and will depend on the characteristics of the imaging beam. In this work, Monte Carlo (MCNP) simulations were utilized to explore the needed modifications to the PULSTAR thermal neutron beam to support coded imaging techniques. In addition, an assessment of coded mask design has been performed. The simulations indicated that a 12 inch single crystal sapphire filter is suited for such an application at the PULSTAR beam in terms of maximizing flux with good neutron-to-gamma ratio. Computational simulations demonstrate the feasibility of correlation reconstruction methods on neutron transmission imaging. A gadolinium aperture with thickness of 500 μm was used to construct the mask using a 38 × 34 URA pattern. A test experiment using such a URA design has been conducted and the point spread function of the system has been measured.

Operation and testing of the PULSTAR reactor intense slow positron beam and PALS spectrometers

An intense slow positron beam has been established at the 1-MW PULSTAR nuclear reactor. The beam is operational generating mono-energetic positrons with an energy of 1-keV. The maximum measured intensity slightly exceeds 109 e+/s. The beam is operated routinely with an intensity of approximately 5×108 e+/s. The positrons are generated through gamma-ray pair production interactions in two back-to-back banks of tungsten converter/moderators. The gamma-rays are produced in the PULSTAR core and by thermal neutron capture in a cadmium shroud that surrounds the tungsten. The primary utilization of the PULSTAR positron beam is the characterization of nanoscale structure in materials. Consequently, the beam has been equipped with two state-of-the-art PALS spectrometers. The first spectrometer is dedicated to measurements in materials such as metals and semiconductors. This spectrometer is based on pulsing and bunching of the primary beam and is currently operating with a timing resolution of approximately 390 picoseconds. The second spectrometer is dedicated to measurements in materials where positronium formation is promoted. The timing resolution of this spectrometer is designed to be ~ 0.5 nanosecond with an on-sample spot size of 1–2 mm. For both spectrometers, the energy of the positrons can be varied to allow depth profiling with on-sample intensity exceeding 106 e+/s.

The Intense Slow Positron Beam Facility at the NC State University PULSTAR Reactor

An intense slow positron beam is in its early stages of operation at the 1‐MW open‐pool PULSTAR research reactor at North Carolina State University. The positron beam line is installed in a beam port that has a 30‐cm×30‐cm cross sectional view of the core. The positrons are created in a tungsten converter/moderator by pair‐production using gamma rays produced in the reactor core and by neutron capture reactions in cadmium cladding surrounding the tungsten. Upon moderation, slow (∼3 eV) positrons that are emitted from the moderator are electrostatically extracted, focused and magnetically guided until they exit the reactor biological shield with 1‐keV energy, approximately 3‐cm beam diameter and an intensity exceeding 6×108 positrons per second. A magnetic beam switch and transport system has been installed and tested that directs the beam into one of two spectrometers. The spectrometers are designed to implement state‐of‐the‐art PALS and DBS techniques to perform positron and positronium annihilation stud...