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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).
K. Wisshak, F. Käppeler
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 69 | Number 1 | January 1979 | Pages 39-46
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A21283
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The neutron capture cross sections of 240Pu and 242Pu were measured in the energy range from 50 to 250 keV, using 197Au as a standard. Neutrons were produced via the T(p,n) reaction with the Karlsruhe 3-MV pulsed Van de Graaff accelerator. Capture events were detected by a Moxon-Rae detector. A flight path as short as 66 mm was used in the measurements to obtain a sufficient signal-to-background ratio. An overall uncertainty of 7 to 11% was obtained for 240Pu and of 10 to 15% for 242Pu. In the region of overlap between 50 and 90 keV, the presented data agree with our previous results. They confirm the existing data for 240Pu. Discrepancies up to 30% for 240Pu and 242Pu were found in the evaluated ENDF/B-IV files while KEDAK 3 fits reasonably well to the experimental data.