Pyrophoricity of tritium-storage bed materials
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. It was found that 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 (dehydrided) materials showed stronger reactions than did the hydrides, but they 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 possibility of a fire in tritium storage beds is real, especially if uranium or zirconium--cobalt are used as storage materials, but fires may not occur until the bed is heated. 9 refs., 12 figs., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-76ID01570
- OSTI ID:
- 6949207
- Report Number(s):
- EGG-FSP-8050; CONF-880505-40; ON: DE88015105
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 3. topical meeting on tritium technology in fission, fusion and isotopic applications, Toronto, Canada, 1 May 1988
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
LANTHANUM BASE ALLOYS
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
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COBALT ALLOYS
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THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR MATERIALS
TRITIUM
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ACTINIDES
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BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
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ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
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RARE EARTH ALLOYS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS
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