Richland Five-Year 02 R&D Program - Pu-238 program

Technical Report · Sun Jun 30 04:00:00 EDT 1968

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10119791· OSTI ID:10119791

There are three principal facets to the Pu-238 Program which are important to Richland. First, reactor neptunium production rates can be materially enhanced by judicious fuel management plans. Second, significant improvement in production efficiency and costs may be made if the Pu-238 production step (irradiation of Np-237) were sites at Richland. Further, Richland reactors have ample capacity, without reducing power, to irradiate all neptunium from government and commercial reactor sources which has been forecasted well into the 1980`s. Third, a separate Pu-238 production process, that of irradiating Am-241 (obtained from power reactor plutonium returns), offers an attractive and competitive means to materially supplement Pu-238 from the Np-237 route. The first two of these aspects of the Pu-238 Program are being pursued actively, particularly in light of firm and predicted requirements for Pu-238. Technological development for irradiating and processing Am-241 will be performed in the near future.

• Research Organization: General Electric Co., Richland, WA (United States). Hanford Atomic Products Operation
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 10119791
• Report Number(s): RL--4-4; ON: DE95006603
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220600
HANFORD PRODUCTION REACTORS
HANFORD RESERVATION
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
IRRADIATION
NEPTUNIUM 237
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
PLUTONIUM 238
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH
TEST
TRAINING
PRODUCTION
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS TESTING REACTORS