Self-irradiation damage in actinide metals and alloys

Some ''damage'' problems (i.e. the defects in the crystal lattice in the process of self-irradiation) of actinide metals (thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium and plutonium) and their alloys are considered. The effect of damage accumulation on self-irradiation on the change of rho electric conductivity, thermal conductivity, leno.th of the samples and lattice period of the actinide metals is studied. It is shown that the behaviour of the actinide metals on self-irradiation is characterized by the following phenomena: a strong rho temperature dependence in case of small accumulation of damages; the absence of the temperature influence on rho in case of large accumulation of damages in α-Pu; reduction with further accumulation of damages; reduction of the sample size in β- and delta-pu in case of total defect saturation