Recent 238Pu Production Activities at Idaho National Laboratory

Andrew Zillmer; William Green; Craig Tyler; Brian Gross; Erik Rosvall; Austen Fradeneck; Joshua Fishler; David Reeder; Ryan Marlow; Jagoda Urban-Klaehn; Michael Reichenberger; Mark Hill; Richard Howard

doi:10.1080/00295450.2022.2105774

Recent ²³⁸Pu Production Activities at Idaho National Laboratory

Andrew Zillmer, William Green, Craig Tyler, Brian Gross, Erik Rosvall, Austen Fradeneck, Joshua Fishler, David Reeder, Ryan Marlow, Jagoda Urban-Klaehn, Michael Reichenberger, Mark Hill, Richard Howard

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Plutonium-238 (²³⁸Pu) Production program at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is actively qualifying irradiation targets containing ²³⁷Np for the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) to produce ²³⁸Pu for future National Aeronautics and Space Administration missions. INL qualified and loaded seven targets in the ATR’s south flux trap for cycle 169A, which occurred in Spring 2021. The irradiation qualification program has expanded to additional ATR irradiation positions after two baseline production targets in three positions validated significant production of ²³⁸Pu. The validation model was followed by the PFS-1 experimental test in the ATR Critical Facility that verified ²³⁸Pu production cross sections. This paper outlines the progress and status of the ²³⁸Pu production program at INL. The qualification effort, safety analysis, hardware status, and future activities for qualification of an updated target design for use in the ATR are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	S1-S10
Journal	Nuclear Technology
Volume	208
Issue number	sup1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2105774
State	Published - 2022
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was funded through DOE and NASA interagency agreement number NNH19OB05A and DOE contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.

Keywords

238Pu
Advanced Test Reactor, ATR
Space power

Access to Document

10.1080/00295450.2022.2105774

Cite this

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title = "Recent 238Pu Production Activities at Idaho National Laboratory",

abstract = "The Plutonium-238 (238Pu) Production program at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is actively qualifying irradiation targets containing 237Np for the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) to produce 238Pu for future National Aeronautics and Space Administration missions. INL qualified and loaded seven targets in the ATR{\textquoteright}s south flux trap for cycle 169A, which occurred in Spring 2021. The irradiation qualification program has expanded to additional ATR irradiation positions after two baseline production targets in three positions validated significant production of 238Pu. The validation model was followed by the PFS-1 experimental test in the ATR Critical Facility that verified 238Pu production cross sections. This paper outlines the progress and status of the 238Pu production program at INL. The qualification effort, safety analysis, hardware status, and future activities for qualification of an updated target design for use in the ATR are discussed.",

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AU - Fishler, Joshua

AU - Reeder, David

AU - Marlow, Ryan

AU - Urban-Klaehn, Jagoda

AU - Reichenberger, Michael

AU - Hill, Mark

AU - Howard, Richard

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © This material is published by permission of Idaho National Laboratory, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up, non-exclusive, and irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.

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N2 - The Plutonium-238 (238Pu) Production program at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is actively qualifying irradiation targets containing 237Np for the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) to produce 238Pu for future National Aeronautics and Space Administration missions. INL qualified and loaded seven targets in the ATR’s south flux trap for cycle 169A, which occurred in Spring 2021. The irradiation qualification program has expanded to additional ATR irradiation positions after two baseline production targets in three positions validated significant production of 238Pu. The validation model was followed by the PFS-1 experimental test in the ATR Critical Facility that verified 238Pu production cross sections. This paper outlines the progress and status of the 238Pu production program at INL. The qualification effort, safety analysis, hardware status, and future activities for qualification of an updated target design for use in the ATR are discussed.

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