Abstract
This research presented herein involves the optimization of transcurium production in the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Due to the dependence of isotope cross sections on incoming neutron energy, the efficiency with which an isotope is transmuted is highly dependent upon the flux spectrum. There are certain energy bands in which the rate of fission of transcurium production feedstock materials is minimized, relative to the rate of non-fission absorptions. It is proposed that by perturbing the flux spectrum, it is possible to increase the amount of key isotopes, such as 249Bk and 252Cf, that are produced during a transmutation cycle, relative to the consumption of feedstock material.
This optimization process is carried out by developing an iterative objective framework involving problem definition, flux spectrum and cross section analysis, simulated transmutation, and analysis of final yields and transmutation parameters. It is shown that it is possible to perturb the local flux spectrum in the transcurium target by perturbing the composition of the target. It is further shown that these perturbations are able to alter the target yields in a non-negligible way. Future work is necessary to develop the optimization framework, and identify the necessary algorithms to update the problem definition based upon progress towards the optimization goals.
