ALARA: Analytic and Laplacian adaptive radioactivity analysis

While many codes have been written to compute the induced activation and changes in composition caused by neutron irradiation, most of those which are still being updated are only slowly adding functionality and not improving the accuracy, speed and usability of their existing methods. ALARA moves forward in all four of these areas, with primary importance being placed on the accuracy and speed of solution. By carefully analyzing the various ways to model the physical system, the methods to solve the mathematical problem and the interaction between these two issues, ALARA chooses an optimum combination to achieve high accuracy, fast computation, and enhanced versatility and ease of use. The physical system is modeled using advanced linear chains, which include the contributions from straightened loops in the reaction scheme, while the truncation philosophy minimizes the discrepancies between the model and the real problem. The mathematical method is then adaptively chosen based on the characteristics of each linear chain to use analytically exact methods when possible and an accurate expansion technique otherwise. Future modifications to ALARA include new functionality by implementing methods to use new data libraries, implementing methods to get new information from existing libraries, enhancing usability, and improving speed by fine tuning and parallel processing.

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