Pyrophoricity of tritium-storage bed materials

Conference · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Fusion Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5699739

Longhurst, G R

Experiments were conducted on samples of depleted uranium and on intermetallic compounds of zirconium-cobalt and lanthanum-nickel-aluminide to evaluate the pyrophoricity of the activated materials and their hydrides and deuterides on exposure to air. None of the materials spontaneously ignited when exposed to room temperature air, but the uranium and the zirconium-cobalt both ignited in air at moderately elevated temperatures. Activated dehyrdided materials ignited at essentially the same temperatures. Deuterides showed effectively the same characteristics as the hydrides except the ignition temperature of zirconium-cobalt deuteride was reduced by 20 - 50 K from that of the hydride. The pyrophoricity of these materials raises concern about the possibility of fires in tritium-storage beds with attendant damage to the bed and dispersal of tritiated debris, but fires may not occur until the bed is heated.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Engineering Lab., Idaho Falls, ID (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5699739
• Report Number(s): CONF-880505-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Fusion Technol.; (United States) Journal Volume: 14:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ACTINIDES
ALLOYS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COBALT ALLOYS
DATA
DEUTERIDES
DEUTERIUM COMPOUNDS
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FIRE HAZARDS
HAZARDS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INFORMATION
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPES
LANTHANUM ALLOYS
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS TESTING
METALS
NICKEL ALLOYS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE EARTH ALLOYS
STORAGE FACILITIES
TESTING
TRITIUM
URANIUM
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS