Subject: U. of Tennessee NE Dept. Colloquium and Webcast

Topic:        The Reactor-Accelerator Coupling Experiments (RACE) Project of the U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative 
 
Speaker:   Denis E. Beller, Ph.D.
                  RACE Project Director
                  Idaho State University (ISU)
                 
Where:      308 Pasqua Engineering Bldg.
                   U. of Tennessee Main Campus

When:        Wednesday, March 9, 2005
                   1:30 - 2:30 pm. EST

Webcast:  http://www.engr.utk.edu/nuclear/colloquia
Viewers of the live webcast may submit questions and/or comments to the speaker either before or during the live webcast via an email message to utne@tennessee.edu.  Please include your name and affiliation in your email message.  Viewers who miss the live webcast can view the archived webcast, which is usually posted within 24 hours, at http://www.engr.utk.edu/nuclear/colloquia/Archive/ .  Viewers may also receive the speaker's slides in PDF format via email request to Ellen Fisher (efisher3@utk.edu) after the live webcast.

Abstract:
In the university-based Reactor-Accelerator Coupling Experiments (RACE) Project of the U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), a series of accelerator-driven subcritical systems experiments will be conducted at the Idaho State University's Idaho Accelerator Center (ISU-IAC), at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, and at the Texas A&M University. In these experiments, we will use bremsstrahlung from electron accelerators to induce photo-neutron production in heavy-metal targets. The photoneutrons will then initiate fission reactions in systems that will include a compact, transportable subcritical assembly at ISU and TRIGA reactors at UT-Austin and Texas A&M. Other participation in this project includes the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Michigan as well as Los Alamos, Argonne, and Idaho National Laboratories. Prof. Beller will describe the RACE Project, discuss ongoing research and participants, give some comparisons of experimental results to modeling, and present short-term and long-term goals and plans.