Open AccessCriticality characteristics of mixtures of plutonium, silicon dioxide, Nevada tuff, and water
Author(s) -
R Sanchez,
W Myers,
D Hayes
Publication year - 1997
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/434442
Subject(s) - plutonium , criticality , silicate , radioactive waste , environmental science , silicon , geology , radiochemistry , chemistry , materials science , nuclear physics , nuclear chemistry , physics , metallurgy , organic chemistry
The nuclear criticality characteristics of mixtures of plutonium, silicon dioxide, and water (Part A) or plutonium, silicon dioxide, Nevada Yucca Mountain tuff, and water (Part B) have become of interest because of the appearance of recent papers on the subject. These papers postulate that if excess weapons plutonium is vitrified into a silicate log and buried underground, a self-sustaining neutron chain reaction may develop given sufficient time and interaction with the burial medium. Moreover, given specific geologic actions resulting in postulated configurations, the referenced papers state that nuclear explosions could occur with multi-kiloton yields or yields equivalent to hundreds of tons of TNT