SYNTHESIS OF CALCULATIONAL METHODS FOR THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF RADIATION SHIELDS FOR NUCLEAR ROCKET SYSTEMS VOLUME 2 ANALYSIS OF RADIATION MEASUREMENTS IN A NUCLEAR ROCKET PROPELLANT TANK MOCKUP USING SIMULATED LIQUID HYDROGEN

摘要

This report is Volume 2 of two volumes of the final report on "Synthesis of Calculational Methods for the Design and Analysis of Radiation Shields for Nuclear Rocket Systems." This work was performed for the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) under Contract NAS-8-20414, Modification 3.nThis contract included the measurement and analysis of the radiation environment on and in a modified 72-inch diameter Saturn 1-B LOX tank suspended above a nuclear rocket critical assembly. Measurements were performed at the Westinghouse Astronuclear Experimental Facility (WANEF) with the tank filled with two different densities of polyethy¬lene (0.59 and 0.14 gm/cc) to simulate, respectively, neutron and photon transport properties in liquid hydrogen. A critical mockup of an NRX (NERVA Reactor Experiment) nuclear reactor provided a source of neutron and gamma radiation with the desired spectral characteristics. Two different shield mockups were interposed between the reactor and the propellant tank.