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May 31–June 3, 2026
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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).
Suresh Garg, Feroz Ahmed, L. S. Kothari
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 63 | Number 4 | August 1977 | Pages 500-504
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A27064
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have extended our earlier calculations of steady-state space- and angle-dependent thermalneutron spectra in small beryllium assemblies to assemblies of much greater transverse dimensions and have studied neutron diffusion up to much greater distances from the source plane, with a view toward looking for a discrete mode of decay. We find that in the forward direction, neutron distribution fails to attain equilibrium inside 140-cm-thick assemblies with transverse dimensions of 150 × 150 cm2, whereas in the backward direction, equilibrium is reached even inside an assembly of transverse dimensions of 80 × 80 cm2. We show that in the forward direction, equilibrium is delayed by the presence of a penetrating beam of uncollided sub-Bragg neutrons of the source. Thus, an experimentalist can hardly hope to observe equilibrium in the forward direction. The calculated value of diffusion length is in excellent agreement with the observed as well as the theoretical values obtained by earlier workers.