Nuclear weapons vs. nuclear energy [DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.2960]
No abstract prepared.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
Engineering topics
Moir, Ralph
Publications and source records attributed to Moir, Ralph.
U232 Nonproliferation Features
U232 ( 232 U) as a contaminant in U233 ( 233 U) can play a role in nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and still allow U233 to be used in the nuclear fuel cycle. This note describes the two features of U232, its gamma radiation and its heat release, both of which causes problems for use in nuclear weapons. The gamma radiation at low levels causes health problems and even death for people nearby after prolonged exposures. At high levels it causes degradation of the high explosives of the weapons after a sufficiently long exposure. The heat causes problems in weapons design, for example, thermal degradation of high explosives. We quantify these properties of U232 in this note. The role of U232 as a potential nuclear weapon contaminant is similar to that of Pu238 ( 238 Pu) in that both give off troublesome heat, U232 much more than Pu238, but the strong radiation from U232 makes its role unique as Pu238 has little radiation associated with it. The gamma dose to a worker at 1 m from 5 kg of U233 with 2.4% U232 would be 100 rem/hr, 1 year after chemical separation. The dose would be 4 rem after 65 hours of exposure, the limit for annual exposure to workers and a fatal dose of 300 rem would occur in 300 hours of exposure after separation. The high explosive is predicted to degrade owing to ionizing radiation after a little over ½ year. The heat rate is 77 W just after separation and climbs to over 600 W ten years later.
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗