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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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).
E. Linn Draper, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 46 | Number 1 | October 1971 | Pages 31-41
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A22333
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Integral fission rates were measured for 232Th, 233U, 235U, 236U, 238U, 237Np, 239Pu, 248Pu, 241Pu, 241Am, 232mAm, and 243Am in four tailored epicadmium neutron spectra. The fission rates were determined by counting fission fragment tracks in solid-state track recorders. The measured and calculated fission rates differed by <7% for 232Th, 233U, 238U, 236U, and 237Np in each spectrum. There is evidence that the 232Th, 238U, and 237Np differential data need slight normalization corrections. Plutonium-239, 240Pu, 241 Pu, 241 Am, 242mAm, and 243Am each exhibited larger deviations of measured from calculated activities than the lighter nuclides. The magnitude of the deviations varied from one spectrum to another for some materials, indicating the possibility of not only magnitude but also shape uncertain-ties for the differential cross sections.