Pu-238 Production Progress at INL From December 2022 to December 2023

Conference · Wed May 08 04:00:00 EDT 2024

OSTI ID:2367259

Green, William Spencer ^[1]; Mitchell, Jill R ^[1]; Rosvall, Erik S ^[1]; Grayson, Brittany Jean ^[1]; Marlow, Ryan L ^[1]; Fradeneck, Austen David ^[1]; Foster, Jonathan K ^[1]; Geddes, Kevin M ^[1]; Hill, Mark A ^[1]; O'Donnell Jr, Paul Francis ^[1]; Zillmer, Andrew John ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has an ongoing effort to produce Pu-238 for NASA deep space missions. Recent work at INL has consisted of irradiation of Pu 238 production targets in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), generating more than an estimated 400 grams of Pu-238 heat source material between March and October 2023. Additionally, INL began qualifying Pu-238 production targets with a higher loading of Np-237 to further increase the production of Pu-238 production in later years. INL has also updated the analysis as a result of operational changes at ATR. One instance was updating the analysis to enable a single Pu-238 production target to be run in ATR’s South Flux Trap (SFT), rather than the previous seven production targets, to make use of a spare target from a discontinued design. Higher lobe powers in ATR were also analyzed due to potential changes in planned lobe powers.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: 59
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 2367259
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-24-77440-Rev000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
Plutonium Production
Pu-238
Pu-238 production
Pu238