General-Purpose Heat Source Development: Safety Verification Test Program. Flyer plate test series

Cull, T A; Pavone, D

doi:10.2172/6908353

Title: General-Purpose Heat Source Development: Safety Verification Test Program. Flyer plate test series

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Abstract

The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) is a modular component of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) that will provide electric power for space missions. The initial RTG applications will be for the NASA Galileo and the ESA Ulysses missions. Each of the 18 GPHS modules in an RTG contains four /sup 238/PuO/sub 2/-fueled clads and generates 250 W/sub (t)/. A series of Safety Verification Tests (SVTs) has been conducted to assess the ability of the GPHS fueled clads to contain the plutonia in accident environments. Because a launch pad or postlaunch explosion of the Space Transportation System Vehicle (space shuttle) is one conceivable accident, the SVT plan included a series of tests to simulate the fragment environment that the RTG and GPHS modules would experience in such an event. These tests deal specifically with the flat-on collision of flyer-plate-type fragments with bare, simulant-fueled (depleted UO/sub 2/) clads. Results of these tests suggest that the fueled clad is only minimally breached by collision with 3.53-mm-thick flyer-plate-type fragments of space shuttle alloy at velocities up to 1170 m/s. However, collision of a 38.1-mm-thick plate with a bare GPHS clad, at a velocity of 270 m/s, results in a total release of fuel.

Authors:: Cull, T A; Pavone, D

Publication Date:: 1986-09-01

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)

OSTI Identifier:: 6908353

Report Number(s):: LA-10742-MS
ON: DE87002234

DOE Contract Number:: W-7405-ENG-36

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Resource Relation:: Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 07 ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES; RADIOISOTOPE BATTERIES; IMPACT TESTS; SAFETY; SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLIES; ACCIDENTS; EXPLOSIONS; PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE; SPACE SHUTTLES; TEST FACILITIES; THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS; ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS; AIRCRAFT; CHALCOGENIDES; DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS; ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT; EQUIPMENT; MATERIALS TESTING; MECHANICAL TESTS; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS; PLUTONIUM OXIDES; POWER SUPPLIES; SPACE VEHICLES; TESTING; TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS; VEHICLES; NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems; 070300* - Isotopic Power Supplies

Citation Formats


                    Cull, T A, and Pavone, D. General-Purpose Heat Source Development: Safety Verification Test Program. Flyer plate test series.  United States: N. p., 1986. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/6908353.

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                    Cull, T A, & Pavone, D. General-Purpose Heat Source Development: Safety Verification Test Program. Flyer plate test series.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/6908353

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                    Cull, T A, and Pavone, D. 1986.  
        "General-Purpose Heat Source Development: Safety Verification Test Program. Flyer plate test series".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/6908353.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6908353.

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@article{osti_6908353,

  title        = {General-Purpose Heat Source Development: Safety Verification Test Program. Flyer plate test series},

  author       = {Cull, T A and Pavone, D},

  abstractNote = {The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) is a modular component of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) that will provide electric power for space missions. The initial RTG applications will be for the NASA Galileo and the ESA Ulysses missions. Each of the 18 GPHS modules in an RTG contains four /sup 238/PuO/sub 2/-fueled clads and generates 250 W/sub (t)/. A series of Safety Verification Tests (SVTs) has been conducted to assess the ability of the GPHS fueled clads to contain the plutonia in accident environments. Because a launch pad or postlaunch explosion of the Space Transportation System Vehicle (space shuttle) is one conceivable accident, the SVT plan included a series of tests to simulate the fragment environment that the RTG and GPHS modules would experience in such an event. These tests deal specifically with the flat-on collision of flyer-plate-type fragments with bare, simulant-fueled (depleted UO/sub 2/) clads. Results of these tests suggest that the fueled clad is only minimally breached by collision with 3.53-mm-thick flyer-plate-type fragments of space shuttle alloy at velocities up to 1170 m/s. However, collision of a 38.1-mm-thick plate with a bare GPHS clad, at a velocity of 270 m/s, results in a total release of fuel.},

  doi          = {10.2172/6908353},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6908353},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {1986},

  month        = {9}

}

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