Center for Emerging Energy Sciences
Projects - Nuclear Engineering and MCNP simulations:
We are currently conducting several collaborative projects at Texas Tech University
and several others with the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR). These
involve experimentally determining the source of novel nuclear reactions within various
metal hydrides. Simulations are conducted to estimate byproducts of the irradiated
materials using known nuclear cross sectional libraries. Simulations are compared
with experimental results.
Our experiments and simulations seek to determine whether nuclear polarization, nuclear
excitation, and quantum population inversion in some nuclei can increase cross sections
for nuclear reactions. If it is possible for lattice dynamics to influece nuclear
dynamics in metals, then incoherent X-ray or gamma irradiation may make certain nuclear
fission and fusion reactions easier to achieve.
First, simulations are conducted by generating a solid mesh and specifying conditions
that will be used in the actual experiment. Calculations are performed using the
Texas Tech University High Performance Computing Center. Metal hydride systems are
irradiated under various neutron and gamma environments to study specific variables.
After irradiation, materials are characterized for nuclear byproducts, such as tritium
levels. Simulations are compared against experimental results.