Open AccessAssessment of a possibility to use 232U in radioisotope thermoelectric generators
Author(s) -
G. G. Kulikov,
А. Н. Шмелев,
В. А. Апсэ,
Е. Г. Куликов
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1689/1/012035
Subject(s) - decay heat , nuclear engineering , radiochemistry , neutron , nuclear physics , materials science , environmental science , physics , chemistry , engineering
The paper analyzes advantages and drawbacks of the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) based on application of 238 Pu and 232 U. Currently, the RTG on 238 Pu are widely used for long-term autonomous power supply of spaceships due to the following positive properties of 238 Pu: high specific heat generation rate, long half-life, weak emission of neutrons and γ-rays. Isotope 23 8Pu may be produced by neutron irradiation of 237 Np (main component of transuranium radioactive wastes) in nuclear reactors. The paper considers application of 232 U for the same purpose because of the following positive properties of 232 U: power elevation during initial 10 years of the RTG operation (effect of α and β-emitters in 232 U decay chain), long half-life (comparable with 238 Pu half-life). Unfortunately, 232 U decay chain includes also intense emitters of high-energy γ-rays. As a compromise, a possibility is considered to create the RTG based on mixture of 238 Pu with small (below 5%) additive of 232 U. Such RTG will be able to keep long-term stable operation at high power level. The following two-step technology is proposed to produce 232 U: generation of 231 Pa in thorium blanket of hybrid thermonuclear reactors and subsequent neutron irradiation of 231 Pa in nuclear reactors till accumulation of significant 232 U quantities.