Plutonium aging
Abstract
The author describes the plutonium aging program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The aging of plutonium components in the US nuclear weapons stockpile has become a concern due to several events: the end of the cold war, the cessation of full scale underground nuclear testing as a result of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the closure of the Rocky Flats Plant--the site where the plutonium components were manufactured. As a result, service lifetimes for nuclear weapons have been lengthened. Dr. Olivas will present a brief primer on the metallurgy of plutonium, and will then describe the technical approach to ascertaining the long-term changes that may be attributable to self-radiation damage. Facilities and experimental techniques which are in use to study aging will be described. Some preliminary results will also be presented.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 329494
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-99-112; CONF-990109-
ON: DE99002002; TRN: AHC29912%%11
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1999 MAES international symposium and career fair and trade expo, San Antonio, TX (United States), 20-23 Jan 1999; Other Information: PBD: [1999]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; PLUTONIUM; AGING; NUCLEAR WEAPONS; SERVICE LIFE; RADIATION EFFECTS; METALLURGY; VACANCIES; ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE; ELASTICITY; MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Citation Formats
Olivas, J D. Plutonium aging. United States: N. p., 1999.
Web.
Olivas, J D. Plutonium aging. United States.
Olivas, J D. 1999.
"Plutonium aging". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/329494.
@article{osti_329494,
title = {Plutonium aging},
author = {Olivas, J D},
abstractNote = {The author describes the plutonium aging program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The aging of plutonium components in the US nuclear weapons stockpile has become a concern due to several events: the end of the cold war, the cessation of full scale underground nuclear testing as a result of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the closure of the Rocky Flats Plant--the site where the plutonium components were manufactured. As a result, service lifetimes for nuclear weapons have been lengthened. Dr. Olivas will present a brief primer on the metallurgy of plutonium, and will then describe the technical approach to ascertaining the long-term changes that may be attributable to self-radiation damage. Facilities and experimental techniques which are in use to study aging will be described. Some preliminary results will also be presented.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/329494},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1999},
month = {Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1999}
}