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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.
Tsuyoshi Misawa, Seiji Shiroya, Keiji Kanda
Nuclear Technology | Volume 116 | Number 1 | October 1996 | Pages 9-18
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35308
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments on the reactivity worth of beryllium metal were performed using the Kyoto University Critical Assembly, and they were analyzed to examine the validity of the computational method to treat (n,2n) reactions in calculations. The experimental results demonstrated that beryllium metal has positive reactivity worth compared with graphite. In the analysis, (n,2n) reactions were treated as modifying scattering cross sections in a transport calculation, whereas both scattering and absorption cross sections should be modified in a diffusion calculation. The results of calculations for the reactivity worth of beryllium agreed with experimental data within a few percent in the calculated-to-experimental ratio. Calculated results indicated that (n,2n) reactions of beryllium contribute by ∼85% to the positive reactivity worth compared with graphite in these experiments at a thermal reactor. Moreover, through the improved neutron and gamma-ray coupled calculation, the effect of (γ,n) reactions of beryllium on reactivity was estimated. It was found that (γ,n) reactions of beryllium can be negligible so far as this reactivity worth is concerned.