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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).
Ahmed Badruzzaman, James Biffer, Tahmina Badruzzaman, Martin Becker
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 79 | Number 1 | September 1981 | Pages 124-140
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A19050
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The continuous slowing down integral transport theory has been extended to perform criticality iteration with fuel-depletion analysis for evaluating exposure-dependent spectral transitions in fast reactor core-blanket systems. The theory was applied to conventional and heterogeneous configurations, obtaining excellent predictions of the eigenvalue and the spectra. The results indicate the importance of space-dependent analysis involving considerable energy detail. The initial value energy considerations of the theory are the principal advantage in data processing and group collapse procedures requiring such detail. Several simplifying features were observed, further enhancing the advantages of the present method. The transport theory sophistication was attained without significant penalty as the spatial probabilities varied weakly with exposure. Similar insensitivity of the slowing down parameters and resonance self-shielding factors provide substantial savings in computer running time. Nonvariation of these parameters had small effects on fuel cycle characteristics. An analytical solution of the depletion equations was obtained based on the observed weak exposure variation of important microscopic reaction rates. The space-dependent slowing down theory as generalized here is thus shown to be an attractive tool for incorporating the required space-energy detail in a comprehensive fast reactor fuel cycle analysis.