Abstract detail
Implementation of thermal/fluid measurement devices to characterize low enriched uranium (LEU) production capabilities.
Student: Ron Govoro
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gary Solbrekken, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Presented at the 2007 Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievements Forum
Abstract
The University of Missouri Research Reactor would like to produce molybdenum-99, an essential component of nuclear medical imaging, from LEU. Molybdenum-99, or moly-99 as it is called, is currently produced exclusively from highly enriched uranium or HEU. By converting moly-99 production from HEU's to LEU's, it will be possible to remove the threat of weapons manufacture from beneficial nuclear products, but to do so several initial hurdles must be overcome, one of which is removing the heat generated as moly-99 is produced. Water is passed over the target housing the LEU foil, but to calculate how much LEU can be safely processed in each target the water's velocity must be known. Once the water velocity is firmly established, the heat transfer coefficient, h, can be determined, and heat loss from the LEU target by convection determined. To find the water velocity, we have decided to implement two separate measurement devices, which will allow for two independent measures, each reinforcing the other. The first measurement was done with a hot-wire anemometer, or HW, a well established device used in research and industry to establish both direction and velocity for gas and liquid flows. The HW must be calibrated before it can be used, so a calibration facility was built to subject the HW to a range of know velocity and temperature flows. The results of this calibration are constants that allow the output voltage from the HW to be converted into a velocity. Once these constants and associated errors were known, the HW was placed in the channel that will house the LEU target, at the research reactor in 25' of water, and output voltages recorded under various flow conditions. A second test method will utilize a custom built test wedge and pressure transducers to establish the water velocity.
