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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.
Didier Haas, Alain Vandergheynst, Jean van Vliet, Robert Lorenzelli, Jean-Louis Nigon
Nuclear Technology | Volume 106 | Number 1 | April 1994 | Pages 60-82
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34950
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plutonium recycling in light water reactors (LWRs) has progressively become a fact. Over 200 t of mixedoxide (MOX) fuel have been produced in the COGEMA and BELGONUCLÉAIRE plants in the last 7 yr. Fuel loaded in European reactors—mainly MIMAS fuel—is presenting satisfactory in-core behavior and performance. Fuel fabrication technology and operation experience of the BELGONUCLÉAIRE Po Dessel Plant (35 tonne HM/yr) are reviewed. Backfitting of the Complexe de Fabrication de Cadarache (CFCa) plant to MOX fabrication and recent fabrication progress are also addressed. The MELOX plant erected by COGEMA in Marcoule (South France) is a major commitment to provide the utilities with important additional plutonium recycling by the mid-1990s. This second generation plant has been designed to currently produce high plutoniumcontent MOX fuel and recycle degraded plutonium originating from high-burnup LWR UO2 fuels.