RE: Sr-90 RTG power

[Jack_Earley@RL.GOV]

Someone else has said that several years ago a company was trying to make a

nuclear battery to provide electricity for home use. The calculations aren't

currently available, but based on their estimates of conversion it would

take approximately 30,000 Ci of Sr-90 to provide enough electricity for ONE

average house.



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





-----Original Message-----

From: Phil Hypes [mailto:laradcon@hotmail.com]

Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 10:07 AM

To: Jack_Earley@rl.gov; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Sr-90 RTG power





Jack,



One of my colleagues in the calorimetry section of my group at LANL 

calculated a maximum power of 2.3 Watts/gram for Sr90 in equilibrium with 

it's daughters.  That figure was based on maximum Q values, so I divided by 

3 for a rough average value.  That gives a specific power of about 0.77 

Watts/gram.  The specific power of Sr90 is 141 Ci/g (from the 1970 RHH, the 

only copy I have at hand), so the power per unit activity should be 0.00546 

Watts/Ci.  A 40,000 Ci source would therefore produce about 220 Watts of 

power.  That's a lot of power; it's enough to make me ask if anyone can find



any errors in what I've done above.



Phil Hypes





>From: Jack_Earley@RL.GOV

>Reply-To: Jack_Earley@RL.GOV

>To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

>Subject: RE: From AP and AOL about Sr-90 exposure of lumberjacks in Georgi 

>a

>Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 08:58:35 -0800

>

>Several people have discussed these lost and found RTGs w/ me privately, 

>and

>a couple have expressed an interest in the power level produced by one of

>these w/ 40K Ci of Sr-90. Anyone have a ballpark idea?

>

>Jack Earley

>Radiological Engineer

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