Publication Type
Conference Paper
Publication Date
Conference Name
COMSOL Conference Boston 2012
Conference Location
Newton, Massachusetts, United States of America
Conference Sponsor
COMSOL, Inc.
Conference Date
-
Abstract
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)is
developing technology to produce plutonium-238 for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
as a power source material for powering vehicles while in
deep-space[1]. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) of
ORNL has been utilized to perform test irradiations of incapsulated
neptunium oxide (NpO2) and aluminum powder
bare pellets for purposes of understanding the performance
of the pellets during irradiation[2]. Post irradiation
examinations (PIE) are currently underway to assess the
effect of temperature, thermal expansion, swelling due to
gas production, fission products, and other phenomena
