RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE

Yttrium hydride (YHx) is of interest as a high-temperature moderator material in advanced nuclear reactor systems because of its superior ability to retain hydrogen at elevated temperatures. Thermal neutron scattering laws (TSL) for hydrogen bound in yttrium hydride (H-YH2) and yttrium bound in yttr...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zerkle Michael L., Holmes Jesse C., Wormald Jonathan L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2021-01-01
Series:EPJ Web of Conferences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2021/01/epjconf_physor2020_09015.pdf
_version_ 1818723019682480128
author Zerkle Michael L.
Holmes Jesse C.
Wormald Jonathan L.
author_facet Zerkle Michael L.
Holmes Jesse C.
Wormald Jonathan L.
author_sort Zerkle Michael L.
collection DOAJ
description Yttrium hydride (YHx) is of interest as a high-temperature moderator material in advanced nuclear reactor systems because of its superior ability to retain hydrogen at elevated temperatures. Thermal neutron scattering laws (TSL) for hydrogen bound in yttrium hydride (H-YH2) and yttrium bound in yttrium hydride (Y-YH2) were previously evaluated by Naval Nuclear Laboratory using the ab initio approach and released in ENDF/B-VIII.0. In that work, density functional theory, incorporating the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation energy, was used to simulate the face-centered cubic structure of YH2 and calculate the interatomic Hellmann-Feynman forces for a 2×2×2 supercell containing 96 atoms. Lattice dynamics calculations using PHONON were used to determine the phonon density of states. The calculated phonon density of states for H and Y in YH2 were then used to prepare H-YH2 and Y-YH2 TSL evaluations, in the incoherent approximation, using the LEAPR module of NJOY. In addition elastic scattering was assumed to be incoherent for both H and Y. While the incoherent elastic scattering approximation is appropriate for H-YH2, it introduces an undesirable approximation for Y-YH2. In this work, we re-evaluate the TSL for Y-YH2 using FLASSH (Full Law Analysis Scattering System Hub). Y-YH2 is evaluated using the FLASSH generalized coherent elastic scattering capability in order to capture the Bragg peaks associated with the YH2 crystal structure which were neglected in the prior NJOY-based evaluation due to limitations in LEAPR. An experimental approach to validate the Y-YH2 TSL using neutron transmission measurements is discussed.
first_indexed 2024-12-17T21:03:52Z
format Article
id doaj.art-f774a355011b48cd93afa0266d029988
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2100-014X
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-17T21:03:52Z
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher EDP Sciences
record_format Article
series EPJ Web of Conferences
spelling doaj.art-f774a355011b48cd93afa0266d0299882022-12-21T21:32:39ZengEDP SciencesEPJ Web of Conferences2100-014X2021-01-012470901510.1051/epjconf/202124709015epjconf_physor2020_09015RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDEZerkle Michael L.0Holmes Jesse C.1Wormald Jonathan L.2Naval Nuclear LaboratoryNaval Nuclear LaboratoryNaval Nuclear LaboratoryYttrium hydride (YHx) is of interest as a high-temperature moderator material in advanced nuclear reactor systems because of its superior ability to retain hydrogen at elevated temperatures. Thermal neutron scattering laws (TSL) for hydrogen bound in yttrium hydride (H-YH2) and yttrium bound in yttrium hydride (Y-YH2) were previously evaluated by Naval Nuclear Laboratory using the ab initio approach and released in ENDF/B-VIII.0. In that work, density functional theory, incorporating the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation energy, was used to simulate the face-centered cubic structure of YH2 and calculate the interatomic Hellmann-Feynman forces for a 2×2×2 supercell containing 96 atoms. Lattice dynamics calculations using PHONON were used to determine the phonon density of states. The calculated phonon density of states for H and Y in YH2 were then used to prepare H-YH2 and Y-YH2 TSL evaluations, in the incoherent approximation, using the LEAPR module of NJOY. In addition elastic scattering was assumed to be incoherent for both H and Y. While the incoherent elastic scattering approximation is appropriate for H-YH2, it introduces an undesirable approximation for Y-YH2. In this work, we re-evaluate the TSL for Y-YH2 using FLASSH (Full Law Analysis Scattering System Hub). Y-YH2 is evaluated using the FLASSH generalized coherent elastic scattering capability in order to capture the Bragg peaks associated with the YH2 crystal structure which were neglected in the prior NJOY-based evaluation due to limitations in LEAPR. An experimental approach to validate the Y-YH2 TSL using neutron transmission measurements is discussed.https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2021/01/epjconf_physor2020_09015.pdftslthermal neutron scatteringyttrium hydride
spellingShingle Zerkle Michael L.
Holmes Jesse C.
Wormald Jonathan L.
RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE
EPJ Web of Conferences
tsl
thermal neutron scattering
yttrium hydride
title RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE
title_full RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE
title_fullStr RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE
title_full_unstemmed RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE
title_short RE-EVALUATION OF THE TSL FOR YTTRIUM HYDRIDE
title_sort re evaluation of the tsl for yttrium hydride
topic tsl
thermal neutron scattering
yttrium hydride
url https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2021/01/epjconf_physor2020_09015.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT zerklemichaell reevaluationofthetslforyttriumhydride
AT holmesjessec reevaluationofthetslforyttriumhydride
AT wormaldjonathanl reevaluationofthetslforyttriumhydride