Assessment of the basis for modeling releases from plutonium oxidation

Conference · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6447612

Mahoney, L A; Mishima, J

Ideally, a model of the release of plutonium aerosols from plutonium during oxidation or combustion should begin from a description of the plutonium material and its surroundings and proceed unequivocally to a situation-dependent estimate of the amount of oxide released and its size distribution. Such a model would need to provide a description of the heat- and mass-transfer processes involved and link them directly to the rate of aerosol production. The first step, the description of heat and mass transfer, is more easily achieved from current information than the second, the aerosol release. The sections of this report titled Physical Fundamentals'' and Available Theoretical Information'' describe the approach that would be required for theoretical modeling. The Experimental Results'' section describes the information on aerosol releases, size distributions, peak temperatures, oxidation rates, and experimental conditions that we have gleaned from the existing experimental literature. The data is summarized and the bibliography lists the relevant literature that has and has not been reviewed. 42 refs., 10 figs., 6 tabs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6447612
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-18402; CONF-9008157--2; ON: DE91002728
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

054000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540130* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDES
AEROSOLS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COLLOIDS
COMBUSTION
DATA
DIFFUSION
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
RADIATION TRANSPORT
SAFETY
SIZE
SOLS
STATISTICAL DATA
THERMAL DIFFUSION
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS