Dr. Victor Gavron, Accomplishments
In chronological order, latest to earliest
Serve as consultant to the Department of Homeland Security (Battelle) developing simulation capabilities for X-ray baggage scanners
Serve as consultant to NNSA (Materials Management and Minimization) regarding methods to produce 99Mo
Development of a technology to measure the individual fissile isotope content of spent fuel (separating the contributions of 239Pu, 241Pu and 235U to the total fissile material inventory in PWR fuel bundles)
Working in support of NNSA/NA-256 and DNDO Program Managers advising them on portal monitor issues. Recommending specific replacement options for detectors that utilize 3He gas, and developing new designs that optimize the use of current stockpiles of 3He, saving as much as 30% of the gas.
Developed the SPEF concept (Short Pulse Experimental Facility) for DTRA to provide a very-intense short neutron burst for weapons-components testing. This facility was considered as a possible replacement for the SPR III fast reactor at Sandia.
Served (on an Interagency Personnel Agreement in Washington) as a senior advisor to the State Department on non-proliferation issues, applying nuclear technology to imminent issues involving Iran and North Korea.
Worked with Russian nuclear scientists at Sarov (Arzamas-16) to develop warhead and nuclear-material transparency objectives and means.
Group Leader of the "Safeguards Science and Technology" group at Los Alamos, working to track and quantitatively assay nuclear materials around the world.
Initiated an effort to combine several LANL nuclear transport Monte-Carlo codes to provide an integrated package for the analysis of high-energy particle reaction and shielding data. This effort ultimately became the MCNPX code development effort.
Developed a simulation technique to interpret the impact of atmospheric neutrons on electronic circuits, in collaboration with Boeing scientists.
Contributed to the DTRA (then DNA) effort to design an “Accelerator Driven Assembly”, a subcritical neutron multiplier.
Initiated and developed the High-Energy Neutron Radiography project that used WNR (the Weapons Neutron Research facility at Los Alamos) to address a specific problem with a nuclear-weapons system. This brought WNR much publicity in the weapons community, and played a crucial role in getting Vic Reis (then Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs) to support the transition from LAMPF (Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility, that was scheduled to be shut down in 1995) to a neutron science center (LANSCE).
Worked on the development of high-energy neutron detectors for satellite measurements of radiation associated with the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative - “Star Wars”) program.
Initiated the participation of Los Alamos at the AGS (Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at the Brookhaven National Laboratory) relativistic ion beam experiments (pre-RHIC) by designing a particle calorimeter in collaboration with CERN, BNL, ANL and Texas A&M.
Initiated and spearheaded an international collaboration (with ORNL, BNL and the Weizmann Institute) to measure neutron emission in heavy-ion fission reactions using accelerators at ORNL, LBL and BNL. This culminated in an international collaboration with theoreticians from Germany and France that determined the time-scale of the nuclear fission process.
Collaborated on developing the physics of determining neutron-induced fission cross-sections of unstable actinide isotopes by reaction measurements with charged particles at the Los Alamos Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. In addition to the basic physics implications regarding the structure of the actinide fission barrier, supplied the weapons program with important cross-section data for unstable isotopes that they required.
Developed a model to determine the radiobiological effectiveness of 125I and other radioisotopes.
Measured neutron emission from 252Cf to determine correlations between emission probabilities.
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