Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Nuclear Engineering

Major Professor

Howard L. Hall

Committee Members

Howard L. Hall, Leigh R. Martin, Lawrence Heilbronn, Ondrej Chvala

Abstract

This thesis is divided into two main sections. The first component will be on the creation and implementation of a testing regime for the sample chamber that may be employed in a field-deployable laser spectroscopy system for nuclear safeguards measurement applications. The testing regime will consist of various benchmarks that comprehensively characterize sample chamber performance. The second part of this thesis will culminate with a novel comparison of the Ultraviolet-Visible spectrum (300-500 nm) of the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) of trace elements in synthetic (radioactive and non-radioactive) nuclear melt glass and authentic trinitite with a Femtosecond (Fs) laser. Sixteen unique characteristic peaks for all ten primary elements which make up trinitite (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, O, Si, Ti) were found in each of the non-radioactive/radioactive nuclear melt glass and trinitite samples and subsequently cross referenced through use of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) LIBS database and past published Fs-LIBS literature. Additionally, the novel temporal evolution of Fs-LIBS spectra of uranium in radioactive nuclear melt glass and Trinitite with the spectrometer centered around 421nm and 424nm were compared. Throughout this thesis, the challenges of developing fs-LIBS to the rigorous standards that are required for this analytical technique to be employed as a nuclear safeguards technology for environmental sampling or other similar applications within the nuclear fuel cycle will be foreshadowed.

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