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Areas of interest and current research
Interested in pursuing
MS, PhD degree in Nuclear Engineering?
Interested in a postdoctoral
position?
If Yes,
contact Professor Danon
Nuclear physics and data
Fission
Pyroelectric acceleration
Radiation transport
Non-destructive testing
X-ray generation
Medical Istope Production
Assay of Used Nuclear Fuel
Novel Solid-State Neutron Detectors
RPI Nuclear Data (RND) 2011 Symposium for Criticality
Safety and Reactor Applications
Nuclear physics and data - the research in this
area includes cross-section measurements with the RPI
LINAC and other facilities. The RPI
LINAC is used to measure transmission, capture and
fission cross-sections. The cross sections are measured
with thermal and epithermal neutrons. The RPI enhanced
thermal target was designed and constructed as part
of my PhD. Thesis. This target is still used in today's
measurements. The target is optimized to generate high
thermal and sub-thermal neutron flux.
RPI hosts the one of two slowing-down spectrometer in the
USA and one of the few in the world. As part of the research
the high flux in the lead spectrometer was used to measure
cross
section of nano-grams of short-half life isotopes. We are
now exploring the possibility of using the lead slowing
down
spectrometer for measurements of capture cross sections.
An
updated list of publications related to work with
the RPI LINAC is available.
Radiation
Transport - In this
area we use Monte Carlo calculations of neutrons, photons
and electron transport. These calculations are used
to optimize
the neutron production of the LINAC and to calculate the
response of various detectors used for cross section
measurements.
Recently we started investigating efficient algorithms for
Monte Carlo simulations of stochastic transport in 2D and
3D. This work is being done as part of the thesis requirements
of the Ph.D. student Tim Donovan.
2D simulation of a particle in a random binary media of
circles. The particle started on left and after several collisions
was absorbed in one of the circles.
Non-Destructive testing -
this research utilizes the lead slowing down spectrometer
for assay of spent fuel. We are now exploring the possibility
of experimenting with a system for tomography of spent fuel.
Research is also being done on the use of
magnetic methods such as eddy currents and Barkhausen noise
to characterize
defects in materials and under coatings. A teaming effort
is underway with the Fatigue & Fracture
Analysis Team at Benet Laboratories, US Army Armament Research,
Development and Engineering Center, Watervliet, NY. Efforts
are currently focussing on applying eddy current methods
to
identify different microstructural phases in magnetron sputtered
tantalum coatings on steel substrates. Eddy current methods
are also being explored for identifying the presence of corrosion
under polymer coatings (i.e. paint and primer systems) on
steel and aluminum surfaces.
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