Interaction of $sup 238$PuO$sub 2$ heat sources with terrestrial and aquatic environments
Radioisotope thermoelectric generators used in space missions are designed with a great factor of safety to ensure that they will withstand reentry from orbit and impact with the earth, and safely contain the nuclear fuel until it is recovered. Existing designs, utilizing $sup 238$PuO$sub 2$ fuel, have proved more than adequately safe. More data about the interaction of this material with terrestrial and aquatic environments is continually being sought to predict the behavior of these heat sources in the extremely unlikely contact of these materials with the land or ocean. Terrestrial environments are simulated with large environmental chambers that permit control of temperature, humidity, and rainfall using different kinds of soils. Rain falling on thermally hot chunks of $sup 238$PuO$sub 2$ causes the spallation of the surface of the fuel into extremely fine particles, as small as 50 nm, that are later transported downward through the soil. Some of the plutonia particles become agglomerated with soil particles. Plutonium transport is more significant during winter than during summer because evaporation losses from the soil are less in winter. Aquatic environments are simulated with large aquaria that provide temperature and aeration control. Earlier fuel designs that employed a plutonia-molybdenum cermet showed plutonium release rates of about 10 $mu$Ci/m$sup 2$ - s, referred to the total surface area of the cermet. Present advanced fuels, employing pure plutonium oxide, show release rates of about 20 nCi/m$sup 2$ - s in seawater and about 150 nCi/m$sup 2$ - s in freshwater. The temperature of these more advanced heat sources does not seem to affect the release rate in seawater. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos Scientific Lab., N.Mex. (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- NSA Number:
- NSA-33-003137
- OSTI ID:
- 4164632
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-75-2037; CONF-751105-8; SM-199/100
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: IAEA international symposium on transuranium nuclides in the environment, San Francisco, California, USA, 17 Nov 1975; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 30-JUN-76
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Environmental and radiological safety studies: interaction of /sup 238/PuO/sub 2/ heat sources with terrestrial and aquatic environments. Progress report, January 1-March 31, 1981
Environmental and radiological safety studies. Interaction of /sup 238/PuO/sub 2/ heat sources with terrestrial and aquatic environments. Progress report, July 1-September 30, 1980
Related Subjects
N44320 -Environmental & Earth Sciences-Radioactivity Monitoring & Transport-Soil
N44330 -Environmental & Earth Sciences-Radioactivity Monitoring & Transport-Water
070302* -Isotope & Radiation Source Technology-Isotopic Power Supplies-Uses
*AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS- RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
*PLUTONIUM 238- ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
*RADIOISOTOPE HEAT SOURCES- SAFETY
*SOILS- RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
CONTAMINATION
DIFFUSION
FRESH WATER
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
POWER SUPPLIES
RAIN WATER
REENTRY
SEAWATER
SPACE VEHICLES
SURFACE WATERS
THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems