General-Purpose Heat Source Safety Verification Test program: Edge-on flyer plate tests
The radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) that will supply power for the Galileo and Ulysses space missions contains 18 General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules. The GPHS modules provide power by transmitting the heat of STYPu -decay to an array of thermoelectric elements. Each module contains four STYPuO2-fueled clads and generates 250 W(t). Because the possibility of a launch vehicle explosion always exists, and because such an explosion could generate a field of high-energy fragments, the fueled clads within each GPHS module must survive fragment impact. The edge-on flyer plate tests were included in the Safety Verification Test series to provide information on the module/clad response to the impact of high-energy plate fragments. The test results indicate that the edge-on impact of a 3.2-mm-thick, aluminum-alloy (2219-T87) plate traveling at 915 m/s causes the complete release of fuel from capsules contained within a bare GPHS module, and that the threshold velocity sufficient to cause the breach of a bare, simulant-fueled clad impacted by a 3.5-mm-thick, aluminum-alloy (5052-T0) plate is approximately 140 m/s.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 6432398
- Report Number(s):
- LA-10872-MS; ON: DE87006309
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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