Godiva device explained

The Lady Godiva device was an unshielded, pulsed nuclear reactor originally situated at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), near Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was one of a number of criticality devices within Technical Area 18 (TA-18). Specifically, it was used to produce bursts of neutrons and gamma rays for irradiating test samples, and inspired development of Godiva-like reactors.

The radiation source within the Godiva device was a fissile metallic mass (usually highly enriched 235U),[1] about 11.8inches in diameter. This was located at the top of a 6.50NaN0 high metal tower. The burst of radiation was produced when a piston of fissile material was quickly inserted into and extracted from a cavity within the larger fissile mass. During the time these two masses were combined, they formed a critical mass and a nuclear chain reaction was briefly sustained.[2]

Godiva's design was inspired by a self terminating property discovered when incorrectly experimenting with the Jemima device in 1952. Jemima operated by remotely lifting one stack of enriched uranium-235 disks up towards another, fixed, stack. On 18 April 1952, due to a miscalculation, Jemima was assembled with too many disks; this caused an excursion of 1.5 x 1016 fissions—an automatic scram—but no damage.

On 3 February 1954 and 12 February 1957, accidental criticality excursions occurred, causing damage to the device but only insignificant exposures to personnel. This original Godiva device, known as Lady Godiva, was irreparable after the second accident and was replaced by the Godiva II.[3]

Godiva II

Godiva II was constructed inside a concrete building with 20adj=midNaNadj=mid walls and 8adj=midNaNadj=mid roof in a canyon a quarter-mile (400 m) away from the control room.[4] [5]

In 1959, Los Alamos agreed to make Godiva II available to DOD contractors free of charge for two days each month, acknowledging its unique facility for radiation tests.[6]

Godiva's success in creating intense bursts spurred development of similar pulsed reactors, which also suffered accidental excursions, for example: 28 May 1965 at the White Sands Missile Range (parts were thrown);[7] and 6 September 1968 at the Aberdeen Proving Ground (middle melted, disks warped and bolts stretched).[8]

In December 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it was to move its TA-18 testing equipment including the Godiva burst machine from the LANL to the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).[2] [9]

See also

Notes

Citations

General references

External links

Notes and References

  1. McLaughlin et al. page 109, "93%"
  2. Garcia page 1
  3. McLaughlin et al. pages 78, 80-83. "Jemima ... apparent self terminating property of this excursion stimulated study with Lady Godiva,46,47,48"
  4. Engelke pages 3-4
  5. Wimett. T. F.. White. R. H.. Stratton. W. R.. Wood. D. P.. 1 December 1960. Godiva II—An Unmoderated Pulse-Irradiation Reactor. Nuclear Science and Engineering. 8. 6. 691–708. 10.13182/NSE60-2. 1960NSE.....8..691W . 0029-5639.
  6. Zipprich, L.J.
  7. McLaughlin et al. page 86, "Unreflected uranium–molybdenum metal fast burst reactor"
  8. Kazi et al., "center third of the safety block was melted"
  9. U.S. Department of Energy page 1

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Godiva device".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.