Demonstration of jackhammer incorporating depleted uranium

Fischer, L E ; Hoard, R W ; Carter, D L ; Saculla, M D ; Wilson, G V

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

关键词: Excavation;    Depleted Uranium;    Feasibility Studies;    Waste Product Utilization;    12 Management Of Radioactive Wastes, And Non-Radioactive Wastes From Nuclear Facilities;   

DOI  :  10.2172/15013399
RP-ID  :  UCRL-ID-138923
RP-ID  :  W-7405-ENG-48
RP-ID  :  15013399

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The United States Government currently has an abundance of depleted uranium (DU). This surplus of about 1 billion pounds is the result of an enrichment process using gaseous diffusion to produce enriched and depleted uranium. The enriched uranium has been used primarily for either nuclear weapons for the military or nuclear fuel for the commercial power industry. Most of the depleted uranium remains at the enrichment process plants in the form of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF{sub 6}). The Department of Energy (DOE) recently began a study to identify possible commercial applications for the surplus material. One of these potential applications is to use the DU in high-density strikers/hammers in pneumatically driven tools, such as jack hammers and piledrivers to improve their impulse performance. The use of DU could potentially increase tunneling velocity and excavation into target materials with improved efficiency. This report describes the efforts undertaken to analyze the particulars of using DU in two specific striking applications: the jackhammer and chipper tool.