Reentry thermal testing of light-weight radioisotope heater units

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5253353· OSTI ID:5253353

Peterson, D E; Starzynski, J S

Two Light-Weight Radioisotope Heater Units (LWRHU) were exposed to thermal ramps simulating atmospheric reentry. The helium release rates were measured during each test and modeled after simple diffusion theory. The reentry pulses did not result in swelling of the claddings or degradation of fuel pellets.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5253353
• Report Number(s): LA-9226; ON: DE82014116; TRN: 82-013174
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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07 ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES
CAPSULES
AERODYNAMIC HEATING
PLUTONIUM 238
RADIOISOTOPE HEAT SOURCES
ENCAPSULATION
SPACE VEHICLES
DAMAGE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HELIUM
LEAKS
REENTRY
SIMULATION
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
THERMAL CYCLING
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CONTAINERS
DATA
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FLUIDS
GASES
HEAT SOURCES
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HEAVY NUCLEI
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE GASES
VEHICLES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
070300* - Isotopic Power Supplies