Effects of self-irradiation in plutonium alloys

In this paper, we present updated results of self-irradiation effects on 238Pu-enriched 239Pu alloys measured by immersion density, dilatometry, and tensile tests. We obtained the self-irradiation equivalent time of nearly 200 years, nearly 100 years longer than in our previous papers. At this extended aging, we find the rate of decrease in density has slowed significantly, stabilizing around 15.73 g/cc, without signs of void swelling. The volume expansion measured at 35 °C also shows apparent saturation at less than 0.25%. Quasi-static tensile measurement still show gradual increase in the strength of plutonium alloys with age.