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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).
C. R. Bell, N. P. Oberle, W. Rohsenow, N. Todreas, C. Tso
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 53 | Number 4 | April 1974 | Pages 458-465
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23376
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of studies was made of bubble nucleation by fission fragments and fast neutrons. The experimental work was conducted by a liquid suspension method in a pressure chamber designed to provide for visual determination of the onset of nucleation. The minimum superheat necessary for nucleation of visible bubbles was measured in water and propylene glycol. An analytic prediction method for the superheat threshold is presented, utilizing the “thermal spike” theory of Seitz and Rayleigh’s criteria for instability of a vapor jet in liquid. This method predicts that the important parameter a, equal to the ratio of the track length in which net energy must be deposited to the critical bubble radius, should equal 6.07. By this analysis, this value is independent of the type of thermal-spike-producing radiation, the type of fluid, and the system condition. The experimental data from this investigation and all other published data were examined to determine the applicable a values. This examination did not result in identification of a values consistent with the proposed prediction. Reasons for the deviation of the data from predictions are discussed, but the basis of the deviations cannot be resolved.