Abstract
The influence of various factors has been analysed on the safety of use of magnesium alloys in nuclear reactors in the presence of carbon dioxide, the usual coolant. While small metallic additions have little effect on the ignition temperature of magnesium in carbon dioxide, an increase in specific surface area of the samples may increase it considerably, and self-heating then becomes serious. Again, the nature of the gaseous environment is a very important factor: thus the ignition temperature rises with the pressure of carbon dioxide, diminishes very rapidly when the water vapour content rises to 3000 vpm and diminishes steadily as the partial pressure of air or oxygen increases. Nevertheless, in the presence of carbon dioxide, even if very impure, the ignition temperatures of magnesium or of its alloys in massive form, such as fuel cans for use in graphite CO 2 reactors, never drop below a lower limit approximately equal to the melting point of magnesium.
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