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Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

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An accidental criticality may occur in a solution of fissile material. Since the processing of nuclear materials in solution is prevalent throughout the fuel cycle, it would be judicious to have the capability to predict a possible hazard. In view of this concern, a computer simulation was performed of the Los Alamos accident of December 30, 1958, in which the actuation of an electric stirrer produced a sudden criticality. A complete equation of state for a liquid containing gas bubbles was coupled with the equations of energy, momentum, and space-independent point kinetics. Multiplication calculations, implemented with the Monte Carlo Code for Neutron and Photon Transport (MCNP), were performed on thermally expanding solution geometries, to generate a reactivity feedback representation. With the knowledge of the total energy produced in the accident, the maximum reciprocal period on which the power rose was computed.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Construction remains the most hazardous industry in the United States in terms of the aggregate number of fatalities. Twenty percent of all occupational related fatalities occur in construction; approximately three construction workers die per calendar day. Moreover, this trend has been prevalent for too long. One method to reduce this trend is to involve architects and design engineers in considering construction safety during the design process. The concept of designing for construction safety is a viable intervention to improve worker safety. However, in the United States many barriers (legal, contractual, regulatory) exist that prevent this intervention from becoming part of a standard practice within the construction industry. Four-hundred and fifty construction accidents from two databases were analyzed and a link to the design for construction safety concept was determined. An objective investigation model was developed to make these determinations. A significant link between the concept of designing for construction safety and construction fatalities and disabling injuries was established. Specific construction project parameters linked to the concept of designing for construction safety include the minimization of risk due to falls through and from roofs, skylights and structural steel construction; and the minimization of risk due of contact with electric and other utilities. It is recommended that the concept of designing for construction safety be considered by regulatory agencies, insurance companies, and the United States' construction industry as one intervention of a comprehensive safety agenda to reduce the disproportionate number of fatalities and disabling injuries. / Graduation date: 2005