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Perpetual Atomics, QSA Global produce Am fuel for nuclear space power
U.K.-based Perpetual Atomics and U.S.-based QSA Global claim to have achieved a major step forward in processing americium dioxide to fuel radioisotope power systems used in space missions. Using an industrially scalable process, the companies said they have turned americium into stable, large-scale ceramic pellets that can be directly integrated into sealed sources for radioisotope power systems, including radioisotope heater units (RHUs) and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
Kiyoshi Takeuchi, Shun-ichi Tanaka
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 87 | Number 4 | August 1984 | Pages 478-489
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE84-A18514
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Gamma-ray exposure buildup factors are calculated using a discrete ordinates direct integration code, PALLAS-PL, SP-Br, for water, concrete, iron, and lead, typifying materials of low, medium, and high atomic number. The radiation sources considered were both plane, at normal incidence, and at plane-isotropic. These data include the effects of secondary photon sources arising from Compton scattering, bremsstrahlung, and annihilation. Inclusion of a bremsstrahlung source influences the exposure buildup factors for high-energy photons in materials of high atomic number. The calculational accuracy is verified by comparing the PALLAS calculations with the results of experiments with both the energy spectrum and the attenuation dose transmitted through lead where the source is a plane isotropically incident 6.2-MeV gamma ray or a plane normally incident ∼8-MeV gamma ray. Comparisons are also made with other calculations of exposure buildup factors in water for a 0.5- and a 3.0-MeV plane normally incident source. The calculated buildup factors in each material are tabulated for incident energies of 0.1 to 15 MeV (except for lead where the lower energy is 0.4 MeV) and for penetration depths as great as 40 mfp.