Radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET)

Michael B.R. Smith

doi:10.1109/AERO.2018.8396766

Radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET)

Michael B.R. Smith

Systems Analysis and Optimization

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to develop a radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET) capable of rapidly predicting accurate neutron and gamma-ray flux/dose implications from various radioisotope power sources (RPSs). RPS-DET can use this information to calculate the flux/dose incident on or absorbed by nearby humans, materials, and electronics over a complex mission lifetime. This simulation tool uses a Matlab user interface to combine common geometry scenarios for traditional and new RPS design configurations to write a particle-transport simulation using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) 6, which provides results that are automatically post-processed for interactive analysis. The user defines the average age of the PuO₂ fuel, which determines the appropriate time-dependent gamma-ray and neutron spectra, along with the desired RPS and local environment for the simulation. Results for a given simulation are gamma-ray, neutron, and combined flux spectra, whole-body effective dose for humans, and absorbed dose in silicon for electronics. This work has been benchmarked against measurements of existing RPS units and has been determined to predict neutron and gamma flux, absorbed dose, and dose equivalent within 50% of simulation uncertainties.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	1-19
Number of pages	19
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538620144
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO.2018.8396766
State	Published - Jun 25 2018
Event	2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018 - Big Sky, United States Duration: Mar 3 2018 → Mar 10 2018

Publication series

Name	IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings
Volume	2018-March
ISSN (Print)	1095-323X

Conference

Conference	2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018
Country/Territory	United States
City	Big Sky
Period	03/3/18 → 03/10/18

Funding

This work was funded by the NASA RPS Program Office, and much appreciation is given to them and Glenn Research Center for their guidance and support, specifically June Zakrajsek and Paul Schmitz. Field measurements, fueling details, and detailed information regarding MMRTG and GPHS-RTG were provided by Dr. Steve Johnson and Kelley Lively at INL. Information regarding the materials and dimensions of MMRTG were provided by Bill Otting of Aerojet Rocketdyne. This work was initiated while the author was attending the University of Tennessee, and many technical contributions were made by Dr. Lawrence Heilbronn from the Nuclear Engineering Department. Special thanks to Dr. Lou Qualls at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for his mentorship and instruction during this project. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Funders	Funder number
US Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Glenn Research Center

Access to Document

10.1109/AERO.2018.8396766

Cite this

@inproceedings{ba741be46200421a8a25671576f33d92,

title = "Radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET)",

abstract = "The purpose of this work is to develop a radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET) capable of rapidly predicting accurate neutron and gamma-ray flux/dose implications from various radioisotope power sources (RPSs). RPS-DET can use this information to calculate the flux/dose incident on or absorbed by nearby humans, materials, and electronics over a complex mission lifetime. This simulation tool uses a Matlab user interface to combine common geometry scenarios for traditional and new RPS design configurations to write a particle-transport simulation using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) 6, which provides results that are automatically post-processed for interactive analysis. The user defines the average age of the PuO2 fuel, which determines the appropriate time-dependent gamma-ray and neutron spectra, along with the desired RPS and local environment for the simulation. Results for a given simulation are gamma-ray, neutron, and combined flux spectra, whole-body effective dose for humans, and absorbed dose in silicon for electronics. This work has been benchmarked against measurements of existing RPS units and has been determined to predict neutron and gamma flux, absorbed dose, and dose equivalent within 50% of simulation uncertainties.",

author = "Smith, {Michael B.R.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 IEEE.; 2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018 ; Conference date: 03-03-2018 Through 10-03-2018",

year = "2018",

month = jun,

day = "25",

doi = "10.1109/AERO.2018.8396766",

language = "English",

series = "IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

pages = "1--19",

booktitle = "2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - Radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET)

AU - Smith, Michael B.R.

PY - 2018/6/25

Y1 - 2018/6/25

N2 - The purpose of this work is to develop a radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET) capable of rapidly predicting accurate neutron and gamma-ray flux/dose implications from various radioisotope power sources (RPSs). RPS-DET can use this information to calculate the flux/dose incident on or absorbed by nearby humans, materials, and electronics over a complex mission lifetime. This simulation tool uses a Matlab user interface to combine common geometry scenarios for traditional and new RPS design configurations to write a particle-transport simulation using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) 6, which provides results that are automatically post-processed for interactive analysis. The user defines the average age of the PuO2 fuel, which determines the appropriate time-dependent gamma-ray and neutron spectra, along with the desired RPS and local environment for the simulation. Results for a given simulation are gamma-ray, neutron, and combined flux spectra, whole-body effective dose for humans, and absorbed dose in silicon for electronics. This work has been benchmarked against measurements of existing RPS units and has been determined to predict neutron and gamma flux, absorbed dose, and dose equivalent within 50% of simulation uncertainties.

AB - The purpose of this work is to develop a radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET) capable of rapidly predicting accurate neutron and gamma-ray flux/dose implications from various radioisotope power sources (RPSs). RPS-DET can use this information to calculate the flux/dose incident on or absorbed by nearby humans, materials, and electronics over a complex mission lifetime. This simulation tool uses a Matlab user interface to combine common geometry scenarios for traditional and new RPS design configurations to write a particle-transport simulation using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) 6, which provides results that are automatically post-processed for interactive analysis. The user defines the average age of the PuO2 fuel, which determines the appropriate time-dependent gamma-ray and neutron spectra, along with the desired RPS and local environment for the simulation. Results for a given simulation are gamma-ray, neutron, and combined flux spectra, whole-body effective dose for humans, and absorbed dose in silicon for electronics. This work has been benchmarked against measurements of existing RPS units and has been determined to predict neutron and gamma flux, absorbed dose, and dose equivalent within 50% of simulation uncertainties.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049866414&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/AERO.2018.8396766

DO - 10.1109/AERO.2018.8396766

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85049866414

T3 - IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings

SP - 1

EP - 19

BT - 2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018

PB - IEEE Computer Society

T2 - 2018 IEEE Aerospace Conference, AERO 2018

Y2 - 3 March 2018 through 10 March 2018

ER -

Radioisotope power source dose estimation tool (RPS-DET)

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Funding

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this