Design of an automated system for girth welding general-purpose heat source (GPHS) capsules

Conference · Fri Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 1993 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.43197· OSTI ID:6545774

Franco-Ferreira, E A ^[1]; George, T G ^[2]

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1. Westinghouse Savannah River Company, Savannah River Site, Building 730A, Aiken, South Carolina 29808 (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Nuclear Materials Technology Div., P.O. Box 1663, MS-E502, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

Electric power for the Cassini space probe will be provided by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) thermally driven by General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) modules. Each GPHS module contains four, 150-g, pellets of [sup 238]PuO[sub 2], and each of the four pellets is encapsulated within a thin-wall iridium-alloy shell. Girth welding of these capsules will be performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This paper describes an automated system for welding GPHS capsules. Baseline design considerations of minimizing personnel radiation exposure, maximizing process yield, improving process consistency, and generating required quality assurance information, are discussed, and resolution strategies are described in the context of the final system design.

• OSTI ID: 6545774
• Report Number(s): CONF-930103--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States) Journal Volume: 271:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
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ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALLOYS
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ARC WELDING
CHALCOGENIDES
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ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ENCAPSULATION
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IRIDIUM ALLOYS
ISOTOPES
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NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
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NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PELLETS
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PLATINUM METAL ALLOYS
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
POWER SUPPLIES
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SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLIES
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
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