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Texas A&M welcomes uranium conversion research
The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) has signed a research agreement with Quantum Leap Energy (QLE) “to advance and de-risk the commercial production of high-purity uranium hexafluoride (UF6).”
QLE is an Austin, Texas–based subsidiary of ASP Isotopes (ASPI), which is developing an isotope enrichment platform for applications in nuclear energy, nuclear medicine, and semiconductors. QLE specializes in the uranium conversion step of the nuclear fuel cycle—the conversion of yellowcake uranium concentrate (U3O8) into UF6 prior to enrichment.
Rio Quinn
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 9 | September 2024 | Pages 1874-1878
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2278931
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper analyzes the design of an alpha-decay sail. While previous studies have been conducted on the feasibility of alpha-decay sails, none have investigated the effects of different backing materials and backing material thicknesses on propulsion. This paper conducts simulations using the particle simulation toolkit Geant4 to determine the thrust produced from alpha-decay sails constructed of 238Pu and a backing layer made of aluminum, beryllium, lithium, or polyethylene. The results demonstrate that alpha-decay sails can be a very useful form of in-space propulsion, having the potential to dramatically decrease travel time beyond distances of 100 AU.