On Wednesday morning my student Weixiong Zheng successfully defended his Masters thesis entitled “Physics-Based Uncertainty Quantification for ZrHx Thermal Scattering Law”. His thesis work is partially covered in this American Nuclear Society Transactions paper.
His work centered on how low-energy neutrons scatter off zirconium hydrate (ZrHx — the x varies from 1 to 2). For those not nuclear engineers, most nuclear reactors use fission caused by thermal (low energy) neutrons. In some reactors, especially research reactors like we have here at TAMU, there is zirconium hydride in the fuel.