Dolan, David J., authorJohnson, Thomas, advisorBrandl, Alexander, committee memberDesir, Rosemond, committee member2007-01-032007-01-032013http://hdl.handle.net/10217/79039Determining the rate of decay of fresh fission products from a nuclear reactor is complex because of the number of isotopes involved, different types of decay, half-lives of the isotopes, and some isotopes decay into other radioactive isotopes. Traditionally, a simplified rule of t-1.2 or 7s and 10s is used to determine the dose rate from nuclear weapons and can be to estimate the dose rate from fresh fission products of a nuclear reactor. An experiment was designed to determine the dose rate with respect to time from fresh fission products of a nuclear reactor. The experiment exposed 0.5 grams of U3O8 to a fast and thermal neutron flux from a TRIGA Research Reactor (Lakewood, CO) for ten minutes. The dose rate from the fission products was measured by four Mirion DMC 2000XB electronic personal dosimeters over a period of six days. The resulting dose rate with respect to time had a slope of t-1.024 and could be simplified to a rule of 10s: the does rate of fresh fission products from a nuclear reactor decreases by a factor of 10 for every 10 units of time.born digitalmasters thesesengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.dose ratenuclear reactorfission productsText