An understanding of anthropogenic sources of radioactive noble gases in the atmosphere is needed to enhance the discrimination ability of the International Monitoring System's sensors. These sources ...include commercial and research nuclear reactors and medical isotope production facilities. While abiding by local environmental ordinances these facilities all emit noble gas radioisotopes through normal operation. This research presents measurements and analysis of noble gas isotopes (41Ar, 135Xe, 135mXe, 137Xe, 138Xe, 87Kr, 88Kr, and 89Kr) made directly at the stack of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Xe and Kr noble gases are concurrently observed with 41Ar, a neutron activation product, when the reactor is operational. The magnitude of the Xe and Kr noble gases released is not constant over the HFIR cycle, but they temporally match the 41Ar trend. An isotope activity ratio analysis of these shorter lived isotopes combined with the observation of the cycle's temporal trend helps understand the noble gas production mechanism at the HFIR. Isotopes with short half-lives are not useful for long-range environmental monitoring. However, these measurements could potentially be combined with atmospheric modeling to predict the background source term of the longer-lived Xe ratios at a monitoring station.
We present a detailed report on sterile neutrino oscillation and 235Uν¯e energy spectrum measurement results from the PROSPECT experiment at the highly enriched High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ...Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 96 calendar days of data taken at an average baseline distance of 7.9 m from the center of the 85 MW HFIR core, the PROSPECT detector has observed more than 50,000 interactions of νe produced in beta decays of 235U fission products. New limits on the oscillation of ν¯e to light sterile neutrinos have been set by comparing the detected energy spectra of ten reactor-detector baselines between 6.7 and 9.2 meters. Measured differences in energy spectra between baselines show no statistically significant indication of ν¯e to sterile neutrino oscillation and disfavor the reactor antineutrino anomaly best-fit point at the 2.5σ confidence level. The reported 235U ν¯e energy spectrum measurement shows excellent agreement with energy spectrum models generated via conversion of the measured 235U beta spectrum, with a χ2/d.o.f. of 31/31. PROSPECT is able to disfavor at 2.4σ confidence level the hypothesis that 235U ν¯e are solely responsible for spectrum discrepancies between model and data obtained at commercial reactor cores. A data-model deviation in PROSPECT similar to that observed by commercial core experiments is preferred with respect to no observed deviation, at a 2.2σ confidence level.
The PROSPECT reactor antineutrino experiment Ashenfelter, J.; Balantekin, A.B.; Baldenegro, C. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
04/2019, Volume:
922
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, PROSPECT, is designed to make both a precise measurement of the antineutrino spectrum from a highly-enriched uranium reactor and to probe ...eV-scale sterile neutrinos by searching for neutrino oscillations over meter-long baselines. PROSPECT utilizes a segmented6Li-doped liquid scintillator detector for both efficient detection of reactor antineutrinos through the inverse beta decay reaction and excellent background discrimination. PROSPECT is a movable 4-ton antineutrino detector covering distances of 7m to 13m from the High Flux Isotope Reactor core. It will probe the best-fit point of the ν̄e disappearance experiments at 4σ in 1 year and the favored regions of the sterile neutrino parameter space at more than 3σ in 3 years. PROSPECT will test the origin of spectral deviations observed in recent θ13 experiments, search for sterile neutrinos, and address the hypothesis of sterile neutrinos as an explanation of the reactor anomaly. This paper describes the design, construction, and commissioning of PROSPECT and reports first data characterizing the performance of the PROSPECT antineutrino detector.
The response of soil organic matter (OM) decomposition to increasing temperature is a critical aspect of ecosystem responses to global change. The impacts of climate warming on decomposition dynamics ...have not been resolved due to apparently contradictory results from field and lab experiments, most of which has focused on labile carbon with short turnover times. But the majority of total soil carbon stocks are comprised of organic carbon with turnover times of decades to centuries. Understanding the response of these carbon pools to climate change is essential for forecasting longer‐term changes in soil carbon storage. Herein, we briefly synthesize information from recent studies that have been conducted using a wide variety of approaches. In our effort to understand research to‐date, we derive a new conceptual model that explicitly identifies the processes controlling soil OM availability for decomposition and allows a more explicit description of the factors regulating OM decomposition under different circumstances. It explicitly defines resistance of soil OM to decomposition as being due either to its chemical conformation (quality) or its physico‐chemical protection from decomposition. The former is embodied in the depolymerization process, the latter by adsorption/desorption and aggregate turnover. We hypothesize a strong role for variation in temperature sensitivity as a function of reaction rates for both. We conclude that important advances in understanding the temperature response of the processes that control substrate availability, depolymerization, microbial efficiency, and enzyme production will be needed to predict the fate of soil carbon stocks in a warmer world.
This Letter reports one of the most precise measurements to date of the antineutrino spectrum from a purely 235U-fueled reactor, made with the final dataset from the PROSPECT-I detector at the High ...Flux Isotope Reactor. By extracting information from previously unused detector segments, this analysis effectively doubles the statistics of the previous PROSPECT measurement. Further, the reconstructed energy spectrum is unfolded into antineutrino energy and compared with both the Huber-Mueller model and a spectrum from a commercial reactor burning multiple fuel isotopes. A local excess over the model is observed in the 5–7 MeV energy region. Comparison of the PROSPECT results with those from commercial reactors provides new constraints on the origin of this excess, disfavoring at 2.0 and 3.7 standard deviations the hypotheses that antineutrinos from 235U are solely responsible and noncontributors to the excess observed at commercial reactors, respectively.
This Letter reports the first measurement of the 235U $\bar{ν}$e energy spectrum by PROSPECT, the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum experiment, operating 7.9 m from the 85 MWth highly ...enriched uranium (HEU) High Flux Isotope Reactor. With a surface-based, segmented detector, PROSPECT has observed 31678±304(stat) $\bar{ν}$e-induced inverse beta decays, the largest sample from HEU fission to date, 99% of which are attributed to 235U. Despite broad agreement, comparison of the Huber 235U model to the measured spectrum produces a χ2/ndf=51.4/31, driven primarily by deviations in two localized energy regions. The measured 235U spectrum shape is consistent with a deviation relative to prediction equal in size to that observed at low-enriched uranium power reactors in the $\bar{ν}$e energy region of 5–7 MeV.
Every year, from December to April, anthropogenic haze spreads over most of the North Indian Ocean, and South and Southeast Asia. The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) documented this Indo‐Asian haze ...at scales ranging from individual particles to its contribution to the regional climate forcing. This study integrates the multiplatform observations (satellites, aircraft, ships, surface stations, and balloons) with one‐ and four‐dimensional models to derive the regional aerosol forcing resulting from the direct, the semidirect and the two indirect effects. The haze particles consisted of several inorganic and carbonaceous species, including absorbing black carbon clusters, fly ash, and mineral dust. The most striking result was the large loading of aerosols over most of the South Asian region and the North Indian Ocean. The January to March 1999 visible optical depths were about 0.5 over most of the continent and reached values as large as 0.2 over the equatorial Indian ocean due to long‐range transport. The aerosol layer extended as high as 3 km. Black carbon contributed about 14% to the fine particle mass and 11% to the visible optical depth. The single‐scattering albedo estimated by several independent methods was consistently around 0.9 both inland and over the open ocean. Anthropogenic sources contributed as much as 80% (±10%) to the aerosol loading and the optical depth. The in situ data, which clearly support the existence of the first indirect effect (increased aerosol concentration producing more cloud drops with smaller effective radii), are used to develop a composite indirect effect scheme. The Indo‐Asian aerosols impact the radiative forcing through a complex set of heating (positive forcing) and cooling (negative forcing) processes. Clouds and black carbon emerge as the major players. The dominant factor, however, is the large negative forcing (‐20±4 W m−2) at the surface and the comparably large atmospheric heating. Regionally, the absorbing haze decreased the surface solar radiation by an amount comparable to 50% of the total ocean heat flux and nearly doubled the lower tropospheric solar heating. We demonstrate with a general circulation model how this additional heating significantly perturbs the tropical rainfall patterns and the hydrological cycle with implications to global climate.
•Comprehensive framework for conceptualizing groundwater-surface water interactions.•Framework focuses on streams, rivers, and lakes, adaptable to other surface waters.•Fundamental ...groundwater-surface interaction processes identified and discussed.•Framework links interactions to impacts on water quality, quantity, and ecosystems.•Case studies demonstrate the applicability and flexibility of the framework.
Developing an understanding of how groundwater (GW) and surface water (SW) systems function and interact to impact water quantity, water quality, and ecosystem health provides a basis for management of water resources, environmental protection, and land management. Although knowledge of these complex and dynamic systems has improved in recent decades, there is currently no systematic guidance for conceptualizing and evaluating GW-SW interactions and identifying their potential impact on management issues. For this reason, a holistic framework was created to provide a comprehensive and logical approach for identifying, understanding, and evaluating the key factors and processes controlling GW-SW interactions and understanding their relationship to environmental problems. The framework identifies fundamental hydrological, biogeochemical, and biological processes and critical factors to consider when developing robust conceptual models of GW-SW systems. The framework is comprehensive and can be adapted to different problems using only the aspects necessary to address a specific issue. The framework focuses on streams, rivers, and lakes but can be adapted for use in other GW-SW settings such as ponds, wetlands, and coastal marine environments. Applicability of the framework is illustrated through evaluation of three GW-SW interaction settings in southern Ontario, Canada: a groundwater contaminant plume discharging to the Pine River, discharge of groundwater nutrients to Lake Huron, and a regional-scale conceptualization of GW-SW flow interactions in the Duffins Creek watershed. The case studies highlight flexibility of the framework to develop conceptual models, assess environmental issues, identify knowledge gaps, and provide a basis for designing site investigations.
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