High-silicon {sup 238}PuO{sub 2} fuel characterization study: Half module impact tests

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:439006

Reimus, M A.H.

The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) provides power for space missions by transmitting the heat of [sup 238]Pu decay to an array of thermoelectric elements. The modular GPHS design was developed to address both survivability during launch abort and return from orbit. Previous testing conducted in support of the Galileo and Ulysses missions documented the response of GPHSs to a variety of fragment- impact, aging, atmospheric reentry, and Earth-impact conditions. The evaluations documented in this report are part of an ongoing program to determine the effect of fuel impurities on the response of the heat source to conditions baselined during the Galileo/Ulysses test program. In the first two tests in this series, encapsulated GPHS fuel pellets containing high levels of silicon were aged, loaded into GPHS module halves, and impacted against steel plates. The results show no significant differences between the response of these capsules and the behavior of relatively low-silicon fuel pellets tested previously.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 439006
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--96-2815; CONF-970115--2; ON: DE96014457
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
AGING
FUEL PELLETS
HEAT SOURCES
HEAT TRANSFER
IMPACT SHOCK
IMPACT STRENGTH
IMPACT TESTS
IMPURITIES
LAUNCHING
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
NUCLEAR DECAY
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
REENTRY
SILICON ADDITIONS
SPACE VEHICLES
THERMIONIC FUEL ELEMENTS
THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS
VULNERABILITY