Explosive properties of reactor‐grade plutonium

Mark, John; Hippel, Frank von; Lyman, Edward

doi:10.1080/08929889308426394

Cited by 167 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Reactor-grade plutonium (Ͼ60% 239 Pu) with any degree of irradiation is a potential weapons material, and a nuclear device can be made with less than 10 kg of 239 Pu. 3 The good news is that as part of the first and second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, as well as unilateral pledges by both Russia and the United States, thousands of nuclear weapons have been dismantled since 1994. This disarmament process will produce between 30 and 40 MT, pure and impure, of weapons-grade plutonium in each country, as well as hundreds of tons of highly enriched uranium ͑HEU͒.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nuclear waste disposal—pyrochlore (A2B2O7): Nuclear waste form for the immobilization of plutonium and “minor” actinides

Ewing

Weber

Lian

2004

Journal of Applied Physics

1,010

723

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During the past half-century, the nuclear fuel cycle has generated approximately 1400 metric tons of plutonium and substantial quantities of the ''minor'' actinides, such as Np, Am, and Cm. The successful disposition of these actinides has an important impact on the strategy for developing advanced nuclear fuel cycles, weapons proliferation, and the geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste. During the last decade, there has been substantial interest in the use of the isometric pyrochlore structure-type, A 2 B 2 O 7 , for the immobilization of actinides. Most of the interest has focused on titanate-pyrochlore because of its chemical durability; however, these compositions experience a radiation-induced transition from the crystalline-to-aperiodic state due to radiation damage from the alpha-decay of actinides. Depending on the actinide concentration, the titanate pyrochlore will become amorphous in less than 1000 years of storage. Recently, systematic ion beam irradiations of a variety of pyrochlore compositions has revealed that many zirconate pyrochlores do not become amorphous, but remain crystalline as a defect fluorite structure-type due to disordering of the A-and B-site cations. The zirconate pyrochlores will remain crystalline even to very high doses, greater than 100 displacements per atom. Systematic experimental studies of actinide-doped and ion beam-irradiated pyrochlore, analyses of natural U-and Th-bearing pyrochlore, and simulations of the energetics of the disordering process now provide a rather detailed understanding of the structural and chemical controls on the response of pyrochlore to radiation. These results provide a solid basis for predicting the behavior and durability of pyrochlore used to immobilize plutonium.

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confidence: 99%

Nuclear waste disposal—pyrochlore (A2B2O7): Nuclear waste form for the immobilization of plutonium and “minor” actinides

Ewing

Weber

Lian

2004

Journal of Applied Physics

1,010

723

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“…Considering that the bare critical mass for weapons grade plutonium is 15 kg of metal (this number is substantially reduced in the presence of a neutron reflector), safe-guarding this plutonium is essential. In fact, the need for safeguards to protect against the diversion of separated plutonium applies equally to all grades of plutonium (10). The peaceful use of nuclear energy will inevitably require a strategy for the disposition and disposal of actinides.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nuclear waste forms for actinides

Ewing

1999

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

407

217

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The disposition of actinides, most recently 239 Pu from dismantled nuclear weapons, requires effective containment of waste generated by the nuclear fuel cycle. Because actinides (e.g., 239 Pu and 237 Np) are long-lived, they have a major impact on risk assessments of geologic repositories. Thus, demonstrable, long-term chemical and mechanical durability are essential properties of waste forms for the immobilization of actinides. Mineralogic and geologic studies provide excellent candidate phases for immobilization and a unique database that cannot be duplicated by a purely materials science approach. The ''mineralogic approach'' is illustrated by a discussion of zircon as a phase for the immobilization of excess weapons plutonium.

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“…Carson was the retired head of the nuclearweapon design group in Los Alamos. Later, he wrote an article deriving very cleverly the probabilities of different yields for reactor-grade plutonium, from estimates of the corresponding probabilities for the weapon-grade plutonium in the Nagasaki bomb in a declassified memo from J.R. Oppenheimer, the first director of Los Alamos, to General Groves, the overall leader of the World War II nuclear-weapons project (Mark 1993). Carson sent his draft to me without telling me that it was still in the clearance process so we published it Science & Global Security and thereby inadvertently preempted the quibbles that could have tied it up indefinitely.…”

Section: Trying To Influence Plutonium Policy In Other Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen Scientist: Frank Von Hippel’s Adventures in Nuclear Arms Control PART 5. Working in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Hippel

Kurokawa

2020

Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament

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Von Hippel describes his introduction to the ways of the government bureaucracy as an assistant director in the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP). He describes providing White House support to the lab-to-lab program through which the US helped Russia strengthen the security of its nuclear materials and his visits to the Kurchatov Institute and Russia's first plutonium city to discuss such upgrades, and also the false starts that delayed the replacement of the heat and electricity generated by Russia's last three operating plutonium-production reactors so that they could be shut down. He also describes some the other efforts in which he became consequentially involved: ending HEU use in researchreactor fuel, opening up the issue of converting US naval reactors to low-enriched uranium, shutting down Experimental Breeder Reactor II, raising safety issues with NASA's plutonium-heatpowered Cassini mission to Saturn, and a failed attempt to intervene in the UK's decision to launch its new THORP reprocessing plant into operation. Finally, he explains why he left OSTP eight months before his originally planned return to Princeton. He also discusses his failed nongovernmental initiative to promote an end to the production of fissile materials for weapons in South Asia and the Clinton Administration's half-hearted efforts to negotiate warhead arms control with Russia. Finally, he discusses highlights of his life in Washington, DC and the lessons he learned about working in the government. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Explosive properties of reactor‐grade plutonium

Cited by 167 publications

References 1 publication

Nuclear waste disposal—pyrochlore (A2B2O7): Nuclear waste form for the immobilization of plutonium and “minor” actinides

Nuclear waste disposal—pyrochlore (A2B2O7): Nuclear waste form for the immobilization of plutonium and “minor” actinides

Nuclear waste forms for actinides

Citizen Scientist: Frank Von Hippel’s Adventures in Nuclear Arms Control PART 5. Working in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

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