Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2018.10.024

Time dependent heat transfer of proliferation resistant plutonium  

Lloyd, Cody (Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering)
Hadimani, Ravi (Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering)
Goddard, Braden (Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering)
Publication Information
Nuclear Engineering and Technology / v.51, no.2, 2019 , pp. 510-517 More about this Journal
Abstract
Increasing proliferation resistance of plutonium by way of increased $^{238}Pu$ content is of interest to the nuclear nonproliferation and international safeguards community. Considering the high alpha decay heat of $^{238}Pu$, increasing the isotopic fraction leads to a noticeably higher amount of heat generation within the plutonium. High heat generation is especially unattractive in the scenario of weaponization. Upon weaponization of the plutonium, the plutonium may generate enough heat to elevate the temperature in the high explosives to above its self-explosion temperature, rendering the weapon useless. In addition, elevated temperatures will cause thermal expansion in the components of a nuclear explosive device that may produce thermal stresses high enough to produce failure in the materials, reducing the effectiveness of the weapon. Understanding the technical limit of $^{238}Pu$ required to reduce the possibility of weaponization is key to reducing the current limit on safeguarded plutonium (greater than 80 at. % $^{238}Pu$). The plutonium vector evaluated in this study was found by simulating public information on Lightbridge's fuel design for pressurized water reactors. This study explores the temperature profile and maximum stress within a simple (first generation design) hypothetical nuclear explosive device of four unique scenarios over time. Analyzing the transient development of both the temperature profile and maximum stress not only establishes a technical limit on the $^{238}Pu$ content, but also establishes a time limit for which each scenario would be useable.
Keywords
Proliferation resistance; Plutonium; Heat transfer; Thermal stress;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 L.M. Pierpoint, Analyzing the Proliferation Resistance of Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles: in Search of an Assessment Method for Use in Fuel Cycle Simulations, Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Feb. 2008.
2 Y. Kimura, S. Masaki, H. Sagara, Evaluation of proliferation resistance of plutonium based on decay heat, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 48 (5) (2011) 715-723.   DOI
3 G. Kessler, Proliferation-proof Uranium/Plutonium Fuel Cycles, Safeguards and Non-proliferation, first ed., KIT Scientific Publishing, Karlsruhe, 2011.
4 IAEA, Information Circular, INFCIRC/ 153, 1972.
5 C. Lloyd, B. Goddard, Proliferation resistant plutonium: an updated analysis, Nucl. Eng. Des. 330 (2018) 297-302.   DOI
6 S. Fetter, V.A. Frolov, M. Miller, R. Mozley, O.F. Prilutsky, S.N. Rodionov, R.Z. Sagdeev, Detecting Nuclear Warheads, Sci. Global Secur. 1 (1990) 225-302.   DOI
7 J.N. Mitchell, M. Stan, D.S. Schwartz, C.J. Boehlert, Phase stability and phase transformations in plutonium and plutonium-gallium alloys, Metall. Mater. Trans. 35A (2004) 2267-2278.
8 J. Malone, A. Totemeier, N. Shapiro, S. Vaidyanathan, Lightbridge corporation's advanced metallic fuel for light water reactors, Nucl. Technol. 180 (3) (2012) 437-442.   DOI
9 S.C. Chapra, R.P. Canale, Numerical Methods for Engineers, 7 ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2015.
10 IAEA, Thermophysical Properties of Materials for Nuclear Engineering, A Tutorial and Collection of Data, Vienna, 2008.
11 S.S. Hecker, Plutonium and its Alloys: from Atoms to Microstructure, 2000.
12 G. Kessler, Plutonium denaturing by ${238}Pu$, Nucl. Sci. Eng. 155 (2007) 53-73.   DOI
13 Y.A. Cengel, Heat Transfer: a Practical Approach, second ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 2003.
14 R.K. Weese, A.K. Burnham, H.C. Turner, T.D. Tran, Exploring the physical, chemical and thermal characteristics of a new potentially insensitive high explosive RX-55-AE-5, J. Therm. Anal. Calorim. 89 (2) (2007) 465-473.   DOI
15 M.W. Biddulph, R.P. Burford, Thermal properties and heat transfer coefficients in cryogenic cooling, Cryogenics 22 (6) (1982) 283-286.   DOI
16 A. Goldberg, Atomic, Crystal, Elastic, Thermal, Nuclear, and Other Properties of Beryllium, UCRL-TR-224850, 2006. LLNL.
17 J.M. Gere, B.J. Goodno, Mechanics of Materials SI, Cengage Learning, Stanford, CT, 2012.
18 B. Banerjee, D.O. Adams, On predictiong the effective elastic properties of polymer bonded explosives using recursive cell method, Int. J. Solid Struct. 41 (2) (2004) 481-509.   DOI
19 S.J.P. Palmer, J.E. Field, J.M. Huntley, Deformation, strengths, and strains to failure of polymer bonded explosives, Proc. of the Roy. Soc. A 440 (1909) 1993.
20 D.G. Thompson, G.W. Brown, R. Deluca, A.M. Giambra, M.M. Sandstrom, Thermal expansion of PBX 9501 and PBX 9502 plastic-bonded explosives, LA-UR-09-05002, 37th meet. Of the nor, Amer. The. Ana. Soc. September 21 (2009) (Lubbock, TX).
21 C.G. Bathke, B.B. Ebbinghaus, B.A. Collins, B.W. Sleaford, K.R. Hase, M. Robel, R.K. Wallace, K.S. Bradley, J.R. Ireland, G.D. Jarvinen, M.W. Johnson, A.W. Prichard, B.W. Smitj, The attractiveness of materials in advanced nuclear fuel cycles for various proliferation and theft scenarios, Nucl. Technol. 179 (1) (2017) 5-30.
22 The Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection Evaluation Methodology Working Group of the Generation IV International Forum. Evaluation Methodology for Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection of Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems.