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INL reports findings on unusual quantum behavior of plutonium
Scientists at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered that plutonium hexaboride (PuB6) displays a type of unusual quantum property called a topological Kondo insulating state. Materials with this property are neither typical electricity conductors nor regular insulators. Rather, they have exterior surfaces that strongly conduct electricity and interiors that block electricity.
Tatsuo Iyoku, Yoshiyuki Inagaki, Shusaku Shiozawa, Isoharu Nishiguchi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 99 | Number 2 | August 1992 | Pages 158-168
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34686
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) is a 30-MW(thermal) helium gas-cooled reactor with a core composed of prismatic graphite blocks piled on core support structures. Safety analyses have been made for the seismic design of the HTTR core using a two-dimensional seismic analysis code called SONATINA-2V, which was developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. To evaluate the validity of the SONATINA-2V code and confirm the structural integrity of the core graphite blocks, large-scale seismic tests are conducted using a half-scale vertical section model and a full-scale seven-column model of the core graphite blocks and the core support structures. The test results are in good agreement with the analytical ones, and the validity of the analysis code is confirmed. The structural integrity of the core graphite blocks is confirmed by both analytical and test results.