Preparation of Actinide Specimens for the US/UK Joint Experiment in the Dounreay Prototype Fast Reactor

摘要

A joint research program involving the United States and the United Kingdom was initiated about four years ago for the purpose of studying the fuel behavior of higher actinides using in-core irradiation in the fast reactor at Dounreay, Scotland. Simultaneously, determination of integral cross sections of a wide variety of higher actinide isotopes (physics specimens) was proposed. Coincidental neutron flux and energy spectral measurements were to be made using vanadium encapsulated dosimetry materials in the immediate region of the fuel pellets and physics samples. The higher actinide samples chosen for the fuel study were exp 241 Am and exp 244 Cm in the forms of Am sub 2 O sub 3 , Cm sub 2 O sub 3 , and Am sub 6 Cm(RE) sub 7 O sub 21 , where (RE) represents a mixture of lanthanides. Milligram quantities of actinide oxides of exp 248 Cm, exp 246 Cm, exp 244 Cm, exp 243 Cm, exp 243 Am, exp 241 Am, exp 244 Pu, exp 242 Pu, exp 241 Pu, exp 240 Pu, exp 239 Pu, exp 238 Pu, exp 237 Np, exp 238 U, exp 236 U, exp 235 U, exp 234 U, exp 233 U, exp 232 Th, exp 230 Th, and exp 231 Pa were encapsulated to obtain nuclear cross section and reaction rate data for these materials. (ERA citation 07:043451)