Automation of neptunium oxide–aluminum target fabrication

摘要: Reestablishing the supply of plutonium-238 dioxide has required design and development of new targets for irradiation to convert neptunium-237 to plutonium-238. Test target irradiations have defined the appropriate operating conditions for irradiation. To date target fabrication efforts have relied on manual operations for all phases of target fabrication. This paper describes new methods implemented to automate the target fabrication process and scale up from~ 60 targets/year to~ 200 targets/year.