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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).
R. C. Lloyd, S. R. Bierman, E. D. Clayton
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 55 | Number 1 | September 1974 | Pages 51-57
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23965
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results are presented from a series of criticality experiments with homogeneous plutonium-uranium fuel mixtures with plutonium content in the range of 5 to 8 wt%. The H:(Pu+U) atomic ratios covered a range from 19.5 to a high of 80.7: the experiments provide data in the region of moderation where the minimum critical volume occurs for homogeneous plutonium-uranium systems with a plutonium content of 8 wt%. The minimum critical spherical radius for material containing 8 wt% Pu in PuO2-UO2-water mixtures was determined to be 14.98 cm., The criticality factors were computed with neutron transport theory and Monte Carlo calculations, using the DTF-IV and the KENO-II codes with both ENDF/B-II and ENDF/B-III version cross sections. The calculated values were found to be within ±2% of unity.