Speeds and feeds for plutonium

[labmachinist]

I saw this job posting at work today for a plutonium CNC machinist. Says it pays $82K plus relocation. Sounds cool. I mainly do aluminum though.

Plutonium Machining (Special Materials Machinist 2) | Los Alamos, NM | Plutonium Missions

 

[Milland]

Not much difference between machining Al and Pu. Same extreme mass, pyrophoric properties (as a powder), both insanely poisonous, and tendency to shear making them great as armor piercing projectiles*.

$82K and all the alpha particles I can eat? Sign me up!


*After a long period of decay into uranium. One must be patient...

 

[Kitsyfluff]

Genuinely curious what the SFM would be for exotic materials like plutonium

 

[Milland]

Genuinely curious what the SFM would be for exotic materials like plutonium

I've not worked with Pu, but I suspect that it might work well with sharp, hard materials like CBN, even at lower speeds due to it's brittle nature.

But my comment about dust is real, plutonium is very toxic, and great care must be used when machining it to capture ALL dust. Ditto risk of fire, there should be an appropriate fire suppression system in the machine, and that includes not having an overpressure event that could force dust outside the enclosure if activated.

Plutonium - Wikipedia

Info on machining and fabrication from Los Alamos Lab: https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/actinide-research-quarterly/pdfs/ARQ-2012-10.pdf

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

Working on nuclear materials for 80k?, LOL not for me.

 

[SeeFair]

I would wager that there are folks here that have actually machined Pu. Back in the 80's I toured through the plant at Oak Ridge (I think?). All the machines were run by "machine operators" (not machinists). The parts were hemispheres, but finished goods could not be stacked like bowls in your kitchen cabinet: they have to be held in separate milk crates to keep them apart. Coolant lines ran across the ceiling, with signs posted frequently: "Do not put buckets under drips". I think it was uranium, not plutonium. Scary place!

 

[Milling man]

I saw this job posting at work today for a plutonium CNC machinist. Says it pays $82K plus relocation. Sounds cool. I mainly do aluminum though.

Plutonium Machining (Special Materials Machinist 2) | Los Alamos, NM | Plutonium Missions

It seems to me that 53-82 thousand for the activities that are described there is "slightly" too little

 

[Milling man]

I've not worked with Pu, but I suspect that it might work well with sharp, hard materials like CBN, even at lower speeds due to it's brittle nature.

But my comment about dust is real, plutonium is very toxic, and great care must be used when machining it to capture ALL dust. Ditto risk of fire, there should be an appropriate fire suppression system in the machine, and that includes not having an overpressure event that could force dust outside the enclosure if activated.

Plutonium - Wikipedia

Info on machining and fabrication from Los Alamos Lab: https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/actinide-research-quarterly/pdfs/ARQ-2012-10.pdf

If you think about it, just like processing something very toxic, then there is a long-thought-out method.
The entire processing area is placed in a sealed drum, which is placed in another drum. An inert gas is pumped between the walls of these barrels with excess pressure. Thus, nothing from the inner barrel (toxic dust, for example) can get outside. In the work area itself, it would be wise to maintain a protective atmosphere of some kind of gas that is inert to the plutonium.

 

[DDoug]

Ask member JrIowa's widow what she thinks of the job.....

 

[empower]

Working on nuclear materials for 80k?, LOL not for me.

seriously! i'm making close to double that doing bullshit machining and fab. would have to be in the 200k range to do dangerous shit

 

[RC Mech]

“Essential Job Functions (can perform with or without reasonable accommodation): Peripheral vision, Depth perception, Reading vision, Ability to speak, Ability to discriminate speech, ABILITY TO SMELL, Ability to hear in a normal range (500 to 3000 htz),”

As in ability to have an odour? Not sure I’d classify that an as ability.

The wife may disagree though.

 

[Scruffy887]

Genuinely curious what the SFM would be for exotic materials like plutonium

NEVER machine it at the speed of light.

 

[Milland]

NEVER machine it at the speed of light.

Light's not the issue.


Neutron flux is the issue.


Do not use a stream of neutrons to cool your plutonium during machining...

 

[Milling man]

But there is still not a very dangerous task here - plutonium, according to official data, is slightly radioactive, but very toxic.
That's when you need to process something that has already been irradiated, something toxic, and in addition also highly radioactive .....

 

[plastikdreams]

Light's not the issue.


Neutron flux is the issue.


Do not use a stream of neutrons to cool your plutonium during machining...

Don't cross the streams.

 

[Scruffy887]

Don't cross the streams.

Like peeing on an electric fence? To the umpteenth magnitude?
So never drink bottles of neutron sparkling spring water and pee on a plutonium fence?
Peeing on a fence is not what most people think.

 

[labmachinist]

Working on nuclear materials for 80k?, LOL not for me.

Yeah, salary seems a little low, but they may have to increase that if they can't hire somebody competent. You don't want the cheapest idiot working with this stuff. On the plus side, the hours may be more reasonable than a private shop.

 

[Finegrain]

But there is still not a very dangerous task here - plutonium, according to official data, is slightly radioactive, but very toxic.
That's when you need to process something that has already been irradiated, something toxic, and in addition also highly radioactive .....

Add pyrophoric to the list. Pu dust can ignite spontaneously in air, so must be machined in an inert atmosphere.

At the end of the day, LANL is not asking someone to come in and figure out how to machine Pu. They already know how, they just need an operator to do all the right steps.

Regards.

Mike

 

[Rick Finsta]

Man you machinists are a bunch of pansies. I worked with toxics, acids, and pyrophorics for like $37k/yr when I was working production chemistry. You know, add this too fast or get a rip in your suit and you aren't going home today type stuff.

 

[G00 Proto]

I toured a radioactive machining facility in the late 90’s. All of the operators were on one side of the glass, all of the machines were on the other side. Everything appeared to be done by robotic grippers. I wish I could have looked closer, but I don’t even think I was supposed to see as much as I did.


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