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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).
J. M. Kontoleon
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 70 | Number 3 | June 1979 | Pages 315-317
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A20155
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This Note analyzes the availability of supervised protective systems for nuclear reactors. Failure and repair times are assumed to be exponentially distributed. The availability is maximized, subject to a given fixed amount of resources, by determining the optimum distribution of resources between supervision and repair facilities and by selecting the optimum active-inactive times of the supervisor. The mathematical formulation employs a Markov model continuous in time and alternating between two and three discrete states. Maximization of availability is achieved by using a modified pattern search technique. Computer results illustrate the usefulness of the approach.