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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.
Luis E. Herranz, Jesús Polo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 106 | Number 2 | May 1994 | Pages 168-176
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34973
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The significance of iodine for source term quantification has been studied by investigating its chemical behavior under the prototypical conditions of a hypothetical severe accident within the containment. As a result, some computer codes were developed and their validation is currently under way. The loss-of-fluid test (LOFT) program was one of the most relevant research projects in the area of nuclear safety. Its last experiment, LP-FP-2, simulated a V-sequence. A great deal of information was recorded on the fission product release, transport, and deposition. A theoretical approach to the chemical behavior of iodine in the blowdown suppression tank (BST) of the LOFT facility was attempted with the IODE and IMPAIR-2/M codes. The comparison of the predictions with the existing experimental data led to the conclusion that the BST system behaved as a low-volatility system, with most of the iodine in the form of the soluble nonvolatile species iodide. Only a partial conversion to volatile molecular iodine was observed due to the presence of radiation. However, the intensity of the γ field was so weak that this transformation was not quantitatively meaningful.