Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology, or ADT(sup 2), is a collection of programs that share a common theme - they each have at their heart an intense source of neutrons generated by a high-energy proton beam striking a heavy metal target. The beam ...
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
Various transmutation concepts such as PWR, LMR, Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactor, are under investigation. A study to decide which option is the optimum among three concepts has been performed in this project. In addition, various computer code sys...
The report includes 31 individual contributions by experts from six countries and two international organizations in different areas of the accelerator driven transmutation technology intended to be applied for the treatment of highly radioactive waste an...
The Accelerator Performance Demonstration Facility is the front-end prototype of a CW accelerator useful for accelerator-driven technologies. Its purpose is for evaluating the reliability, availability, and maintainability of a high-current and high-power...
Accelerator-driven transmutation offers attractive new solutions to complex nuclear problems. This paper outlines the basics of the technology, summarizes the key application areas, and discusses designs of and performance issues for the high-power proton accelerators that are required.
DOE Information Bridge
This paper presents a brief summary of the objectives of transmutation mission and relevant fuel cycle strategies and transmutation systems, including a short comparison of the main characteristics of fast reactor and accelerator-driven systems for actinide transmutation.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
The objective of this study is to help establish the long-range nuclear waste disposal strategy through the investigations and comparisons of various= concepts of the accelerator-driven nuclear waste transmutation reactors, which have been suggested to re...
A novel computer code is being developed to generate system level designs of radiofrequency ion accelerators with specific applications to machines of interest to Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technologies (ADTT). The goal of the Accelerator System Mod...
All Accelerator-Driven Transmutation applications require very large amounts of RF Power. For example, one version of a Plutonium burning system requires an 800-MeV, 80-mA, proton accelerator running at 100% duty factor. This accelerator requires approxim...
Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology, or ADT{sup 2}, is a collection of programs that share a common theme - they each have at their heart an intense source of neutrons generated by a high-energy proton beam striking a heavy metal target. The beam energy, typically 1000 MeV, is enough for a single proton to smash a target atom ...
Energy Citations Database
The ATW Program Plan provides a detailed plan to implement the vision of ATW Road Map (DOE/RW-0519, Oct. 1999) that was developed during Fiscal Year 1999. It outlines a science-based program to assess accelerator-driven transmutation of waste technology, ...
This paper provides a brief overview of the Los Alamos accelerator-driven transmutation system, a description of the pyrochemistry technology base and the fuel cycle for the system. The pyrochemistry technology base consists of four processes: direct oxide reduction, reductive extraction, electrorefining, and ...
The Accelerator Performance Demonstration Facility is the front-end prototype of a CW accelerator useful for accelerator-driven technologies. Its purpose to evaluate the reliability, availability, and maintainability of a high-current and high-power machine. This paper describes the design and ...
The Accelerator Performance Demonstration Facility is the front-end prototype of a CW accelerator useful for accelerator-driven technologies. Its purpose is for evaluating the reliability, availability, and maintainability of a high-current and high-power machine. In this paper, design and ...
Understanding and predicting beam halo is a major issue for accelerator driven transmutation technologies. If strict beam loss requirements are not met, the resulting radioactivation can reduce the availability of the accelerator facility and may lead to ...
The possibilities of several new technologies based on use of intense, medium-energy proton accelerators are being investigated at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The potential new areas include destruction of long-lived components of nuclear waste, pluto...
A linear accelerator for the driver of a mu-mu collider can easily be based on operating characteristics of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) linac, or can incorporate many of the advances that have been realized from the Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technologies (ADTT) ...
Recent development work conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory on technologies which use particle accelerator-driven targets is summarized. These efforts include development of the Spallation-Induced Lithium Conversion (SILC) Target for the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT), the Accelerator-Driven ...
An accelerator-driven subcritical nuclear system is briefly described that transmutes actinides and selected long-lived fission products. An application of this accelerator transmutation of nuclear waste (ATW) concept to spent fuel from a commercial nucle...
The Los Alamos Accelerator Transmutation of Nuclear Waste (ATW) concept uses an accelerator driven neutron source (target) surrounded by a moderator and multiplying medium (blanket) for the transmutation of actinide and fission product waste. The referenc...
High intensity proton accelerators have two important applications in China in recent years: Accelerator Driven Sub-critical System for nuclear waste transmutation and China Spallation Neutron Source. This paper focuses on the R&D activities of the key technology of high intensity proton ...
The blanket of accelerator-driven facility designed for I-129 transmutation doesn't contain fissile and fertile materials. So the overheating of iodine compounds transmuted is practically excluded. The efficacy of I-129 transmutation is estimated. Curium being accumulated in nuclear reactors can be ...
Thermal neutron reactor (LWR), fast neutron reactor (FBR), accelerator- driven subcritical system have been studied as the potential transmutation devices. Oxide fuel is considered in LWR and metal, oxide, and nitride fuels are studied in FBR. In accelera...
Accelerator-driven transmutation technology has been under study at Los Alamos for several years for application to nuclear waste treatment, tritium production, energy generation, and recently, to the disposition of excess weapons plutonium. Studies and e...
The recent paper 'Accelerator and Target Technology for Accelerator Driven Transmutation and Energy Production' and report 'Accelerators for America's Future' have endorsed the idea that the next generation particle ...
Sifnificant high-current, high-intensity accelerator research and development have been done in the recent past in the US, centered primarily at Los Alamos National Laboratory. These efforts have included designs for the Accelerator Production of Tritium Project, Accelerator Transmutation of Waste, and ...
This is the final report of a one-year Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This project investigated separations technology development needed for accelerator-driven transmutation technology (ADTT) concepts, particularly those associated with ...
It is discussed the interest of Russian Federal Nuclear Center-Institute of Technical Physics at Chelyabinsk-70 in the research of Accelerator Driven Technologies applications for radioactive waste transmutation, cumulated actinides burning, energy production. The ITP background and opportunities for this research ...
Reprinted from YSICS A Nuclear Physics A654 (1999) 436~457~ www.eIsevier.nl/locate/npe Accelerator-driven Transmutation Projects. The Importance of Nuclear Physics Research for Waste Transmutation. Waclaw Gudowsk? aRoyal Institute of Technology,Stockholm, Sweden ELSEVIER #12;International Nuclear Physics Conference ...
E-print Network
Transmutation is a worldwide promising and feasible technology for significant reduction of the amount, and thereby, the long-term radiotoxicity of highly radioactive wastes produced by the operation of nuclear power plants such as light water reactors. Plutonium, minor actinides and long-live fission products can be transmuted in an ...
This paper reviews existing models for radiation-induced segregation to microstructural interfaces and surfaces. It indicates how the models have been successfully used in the past in neutron irradiation situations and how they may be modified to account for accelerator-driven RIS. The predictions of the models suggest that any impurity with large misfit will suffer RIS and ...
All Accelerator-Driven Transmutation applications require very large amounts of RF Power. For example, one version of a Plutonium burning system requires an 800-MeV, 80-mA, proton accelerator running at 100% duty factor. This accelerator requires approximately 110-MW of continuous RF power if one assumes only 10% ...
In November 1996, SKB started financing of the project 'System and safety studies of accelerator driven transmutation systems and development of a spallation target'. The aim of the project was stated as: (1) Development of a complete code for simulation ...
A new concept for an accelerator-driven transmutation system is described. The central feature of the concept is generation of intense fluxes of thermal neutrons. In the system all long-lived radionuclides comprising high-level nuclear waste can be transm...
Accelerator technology has been a major beneficiary of the investment made over the last decade. It is the intention of this paper to provide the reader with a glimpse of the broad nature of those advances. Development has been on a broad front and this paper can highlight only a few of those. Two spin-off applications will be outlined -- a concept for a ...
The Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program was initiated in fiscal year 2001 (FY01) by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in partnership with other national laboratories. The primary goal of this program is to investigate the feasibility of accelerator-driven ...
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been proceeding with the research and development on accelerator-driven system (ADS) for the transmutation of long-lived radioactive nuclides. The ADS proposed by JAEA is a lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) cooled fast subcritical core with 800 MWth. Various activities were conducted to investigate the feasibility of the ...
A conceptual blanket design for {sup 129}I transmutation is proposed for an accelerator-driven system (ADS) that is designed to transmute minor actinides (MAs). In this ADS, 250 kg/yr of MA and 56 kg/yr of iodine are simultaneously transmuted, and they correspond to the quantities generated from {approx}10 units of ...
Recent work at Los Alamos has revealed new techniques leading to greatly enhanced feasibility for using intense particle accelerators to drive systems for burning existing radioactive waste, and for electrical power generation with a much reduced waste stream in the future. The system requires the intense flux levels that can only be provided by an ...
The production of stable and radioactive residual nuclides by medium-energy protons and neutrons is of importance for many fields of basic and applied sciences ranging from astrophysics over space and environmental sciences, medicine, accelerator technology, space and aviation technology to accelerator ...
All Accelerator-Driven Transmutation apaplications require very large amounts of RF Power. One version of a Plutonium burning system requires an 800-MeV, 80-mA, proton accelerator running at 100% duty factor. This accelerator requires approximately 110{minus}MW of continuous RF power if one assumes only 10% reserve ...
The LAHET Code System (LCS) is extensively used for medium energy accelerator applications, including spallation target design and deep penetration shielding problems. Current applications include Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT), Accelerator Driven Transmutation ...
In this paper we describe parallel particle-in-cell methods for the large scale simulation of beam dynamics in linear accelerators. These techniques have been implemented in the IMPACT (Integrated Map and Particle Accelerator Tracking) code. IMPACT is being used to study the behavior of intense charged particle beams and as a tool for the design of ...
The rapid development of the accelerator technology which enables the construction of reliable and very intense neutron sources has initiated a growing interest for accelerator driven transmutation systems in Sweden. After the Specialist Meeting on Accelerator-Driven ...
This document is complementary to a document produced by Prof. Salvatores on ''The Physics of Transmutation in Critical or Subcritical Reactors and the Impact on the Fuel Cycle''. In that document, Salvatores describes the fundamental of transmutation, through basic physics properties and general parametric studies. In ...
I present here an overview of the main research and development topics and activities under investigation in Europe for the design of high power superconducting linear proton accelerators as drivers for nuclear waste transmutation in Accelerator Driven Systems.
The possibilities of several new technologies based on use of intense, medium-energy proton accelerators are being investigated at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The potential new areas include destruction of long-lived components of nuclear waste, plutonium burning, energy production, and production of tritium. The design, assessment, and safety analysis ...
Many interesting applications are being considered for high intensity accelerators. Implications of the technology developments that are enhancing these opportunities, or making them possible, will be covered in context of the applications. Applications include those for research (in areas such as material science, biological sciences, nuclear and high ...
Funnels are a key component of accelerator structures proposed for transmutation technologies. In addition to conventional accelerator elements, specialized rf-cavities are needed for these structures. Simulations were done to obtain their electromagnetic...
Nuclear systems under study in the Los Alamos Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology program (ADTT) will allow the destruction of nuclear spent fuel and weapons-return plutonium, as well as the production of nuclear energy from the thorium cycle, without a long-lived radioactive waste stream. The subcritical systems proposed ...
Reactor safety, the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, and nonproliferation of nuclear material for military purposes are the problems of greatest concern for nuclear energy. Technologies for accelerators developed in the field of high-energy physics c...
A small scale experiment is described that will demonstrate many of the aspects of accelerator-driven transmutation technology. This experiment uses the high-power proton beam from the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility accelerator and will be located in the Area-A experimental hall. Beam currents of up to 1 mA will ...
Integral neutron production was measured by the manganese-activation technique, on targets semiprototypic of spallation-neutron-driven transmutation systems, after irradiation by 400-MeV to 2.0-GeV protons. The purpose of these experiments was to provide data to benchmark nuclear transport codes for targets irradiated by protons in this energy range, as ...
In the Fiscal Year 1999 Energy and Water Appropriation Act, the U.S. Congress directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the accelerator transmutation of nuclear waste (ATW) and by the end of FY99 to prepare a 'roadmap' for developing this technolog...
The purpose of this study is to examine the transient heat transfer characteristics of liquid mental as the coolant used in accelerator-driven transmutation process reactor which is related the disposal of high-level radioactive nuclide. At current stage,...
With the renewed interest in accelerator-driven systems to transmute long-lived nuclear waste or to produce energy, new requirements for intermediate-energy nuclear data are now emerging. In all these systems, neutrons are produced by spallation reactions...
Accelerators can play a role in the disposal of long-lived radioactive waste: an alternative to the storage in deep underground repositories might transmute long-lived elements into stable or short-lived ones in subcritical systems driven by spallation ne...
With the rapid development of particle accelerator technologies during the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) of the 1980s and the severe institutional and political challenges faced by the nuclear reactor community, there has been increasing interest in the use of particle accelerators to fulfill some nuclear missions in the US and ...
The objective of this work is to develop preparation and clean-up processes for the fuel and carrier salt in the Los Alamos Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology molten salt nuclear system. The front-end or fuel preparation process focuses on the removal of fission products, uranium, and zirconium from spent nuclear fuel by ...
This article discusses the potential safety and energy efficiency benefits of nuclear reactors enhanced with particle accelerator technology. It explains how particle accelerators have the ability to produce extra neutrons (in order to sustain a chain reaction for longer periods of time), a feature that makes the ...
NSDL National Science Digital Library
The US policy on the disposition of weapons and commercial plutonium by geologic storage is examined and compared with destruction in reactors or accelerator-driven systems. The close coupling with Russian weapons plutonium is considered. Strong emphasis is placed on the preference by terrorists and rogue states for commercial plutonium over weapons plutonium for fast and ...
This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technology (ADTT) offers a means of generating nuclear energy in a clean, safe way that can be attractive to the general public. ...
An outline is presented of the status of nuclear data evaluation for accelerator-driven systems. The international effort consists mainly of measuring, compiling and calculating nuclear data for elements and isotopes relevant for transmutation of radioact...
A beamline systems code, that is being developed for Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology (ADTT) facility trade studies, is described. The overall program is a joint Grumman, G. H. Gillespie Associates (GHGA) and Los Alamos National Laboratory effort. The GHGA Accelerator Systems Model (ASM) has been adopted ...
During the past 14 months, an experimental team within the accelerator operations and technology division at Los Alamos National Laboratory has completed the design, construction and partial testing of a new, very promising cw (or DC) proton injector that should meet the needs of the Accelerator-Driven ...
There is renewed interest in using accelerator driven neutron sources to address the problem of high-level long-lived nuclear waste. Several laboratories have developed systems that may have a significant impact on the future use of nuclear power, adding ...
An assessment has been performed for an Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) concept based on the use of the high temperature gas reactor technology. The concept has been proposed by General Atomics for the ATW system. The concept uses recycled light ...
The accelerator fuel enricher and fission product exterminator (APEX) approach to the transmutation of fission wastes is described. Using an accelerator-driven neutron source, fissile fuel can be bred in situ (e.g., 238 U is converted to 239 Pu by neutron absorption) in reactor fuel assemblies. The rejuvenated fuel is reused in ...
In the context of general environmental concerns, the issue of waste from nuclear power plants is a question of actual interest. Here fundamental research in Nuclear Science may have great potential impact on society and on the longer-term future. In contrast to certain non-scientifically voiced opininos, it is clear, from basic facts of Nuclear Science, that e.g. fast neutrons can ...
This paper presents applications of high power RF proton linear accelerators to several fields. Radioisotope production is an area in which linacs have already provided new isotopes for use in medical and industrial applications. A new type of spallation neutron source, called a long-pulse spallation source (LPSS), is discussed for application to neutron scattering and to the ...
The importance of intermediate-energy nuclear data les as part of a global calculation scheme for accelerator-based transmutation of radioactive waste systems (for instance with an accelerator-driven subcritical reactor) is discussed. A proposal for three intermediate-energy data libraries for incident neutrons and protons is ...
A national project to develop a future capability to separate actinides and long-lived fission products from spent fuel, to transmute them, and to dispose off the remaining waste in optimal waste forms has begun in the United States. This project is based on the Accelerator-driven Transmutation of Waste (ATW) program developed during ...
A new concept for an accelerator-driven transmutation system is described. The central feature of the concept is generation of intense fluxes of thermal neutrons. In the system all long-lived radionuclides comprising high-level nuclear waste can be transmuted efficiently. Transmutation takes place in a unique, low ...
Transmutation of radioactive Cs from fission products of nuclear reactors without the potentially dangerous and expensive operation of isotopic separation is addressed. Transmutation is proposed to be performed in the blanket of a fusion neutron source with the plasma performance characteristics inherent in the current research on fusion reactors. The ...
This paper is a preliminary sketch of a conception to develop the ''ultimate safety reactor'' using modern reactor and accelerator technologies. This approach would not require a long-range R and D program. The ultimate safety reactor could produce heat and electric energy, expand the production of fuel, or be used for ...
This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The major goal has been to develop accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW) system designs that will thoroughly and rapidly transmute nuclear waste, including plutonium from dismantled ...
Accelerator driven transmutation technology (ADTT) is a promising way toward liquidation of spent nuclear fuel, nuclear wastes and weapon grade Pu. The ADTT facility comprises a high current (proton) accelerator supplying a sub-critical reactor assembly with spallation neutrons. The reactor ...
The beam entry window and container for a liquid lead spallation target will be exposed to high fluxes of protons and neutrons that are both higher in magnitude and energy than have been experienced in proton accelerators and fission reactors, as well as ...
For a number of years, Los Alamos have collaborated with a team of experimentalists at Chalk River Labs who were pursuing the development of the front end of a high power cw proton accelerator. With the help of internal laboratory funding and modest defen...
A methodology has been developed to quantify the total integrated dose due to a radionuclide species i emplaced in a geologic repository; the focus is on the seven long-lived fission products (LLFPs). The methodology assumes continuous exposure water contaminated with species i at the accessible environment (i.e., just beyond the geologic barrier afforded by the geologic repository). The dose ...
The paper provides a rationale for resolution of the long-term waste disposition issue based on complete destruction of fissile material and all higher actinides. It begins with a brief history of geologic storage leading to the present impasse in the US. The proliferation aspects of commercial plutonium are presented in a new light as a further driver for complete destruction. The special ...
The authors initiated a program to develop superconducting (SC) RF for high-power proton linacs. These linacs are useful in accelerator-driven transmutation technologies and the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) Project. They are developing multicell niobium cavities with elliptical-cell shapes at 700 MHz. ...
Interesting developments in linear accelerators have been attained over the past 45 years. The status of linear accelerators and future possibilities are described in context of demanding applications and technology maturity. Features of industrial or factory-type applications are high availability, economic operations, low investment ...
The Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program was initiated in fiscal year 2001 (FY-01) by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in partnership with other national laboratories. The primary goal of this program is to investigate the feasibility of transmutation of nuclear waste. An ...
Funnels are a key component of accelerator structures proposed for transmutation technologies. In addition to conventional accelerator elements, specialized rf-cavities are needed for these structures. Simulations were done to obtain their electromagnetic field distribution and to minimize the rf-induced heat ...
The growing stockpile of nuclear waste constitutes a severe challenge for the mankind for more than hundred thousand years. To reduce the radiotoxicity of the nuclear waste, the Accelerator Driven System (ADS) has been proposed. One of the most important issues of ADSs technology is the choice of the appropriate neutron spectrum for ...
A growing interest in accelerator-driven systems (ADSs) has led to the establishment in Italy of a basic research and development program aimed at the study of the physics and technological development needed to design an ADS for nuclear waste transmutation. In the framework of this program, ENEA and Politecnico di Torino are carrying ...
This article presents the different activity of Ingot niobium in BARC. BARC is developing a technology for the accelerator driven subcritical system (ADSS) that will be mainly utilized for the transmutation of nuclear waste and enrichment of U233. Design and development of superconducting medium velocity cavity has ...
The impact of a number of current and future nuclear systems on global plutonium inventories is assessed under realistic forecasts of nuclear power growth. Advanced systems, such as those employing Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technologies (ADTT) and liquid metal reactors, show significant promise for meeting ...
This book deals with the separation of nuclear materials into their chemical components in order to reduce the volume of high�level nuclear waste from weapons production and nuclear power generation. The chemistry of the actinide elements (actinium to lawrencium), crucial to the separations, is discussed in detail. The book also presents an overview of the enormous environmental legacy from the ...
In view of the poor transmutation environments in fission reactors, elimination of long-lived fission products (FPs) remains an unresolved problem in the quest for a harmonized nuclear energy system. Since plasma fusion technology could provide effective neutron support, it is important to elaborate the qualities, features, and dimensions of a fusion ...
A means of transmuting key long-lived nuclear wastes, primarily the minor actinides (Np, Am, Cm) and iodine, using a hybrid proton accelerator and sub-critical lattice, is proposed. By partitioning the components of the light water reactor (LWR) spent fuel and by transmuting key elements, such as the plutonium, the minor actinides, and ...
The overview of the Japanese long-term research and development program on nuclide partitioning and transmutation, called ''OMEGA,'' is presented. Under this national program, major R and D activities are being carried out at JAERI, PNC, and CRIEPI. Accelerator-based transmutation study at JAERI is ...
Steady development in SRF accelerator technology combined with the success of large scale installations such as CEBAF at Jefferson Laboratory and the SNS Linac at ORNL gives credibility to the concept of very high average power CW machines for light sources or Proton drivers. Such machines would be powerful tools for discovery science in themselves but ...
A novel computer code is being developed to generate system level designs of radiofrequency ion accelerators with specific applications to machines of interest to Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technologies (ADTT). The goal of the Accelerator System Model (ASM) code is to ...
A development concept of the accelerator nuclear energy reactors is considered for energy generation and nuclear power plant waste conversion into short-lived nuclides along with the requirements imposed on the technological systems necessary for implementation of such projects. The state of art in the field is discussed.
The research activities have significantly expanded compared to the earlier period and were during 1996 concentrated on the following major objectives: ATW system studies, simulations, optimization and design of spallation targets, benchmarking of the cal...
The work is aimed at experimental determinign and computer simulating the independent and cumulative yields of residual product nuclei in the target and structure materials of the transmutation facilities driven by high-current accelerators.
One type of HLW associated with the procedures of spent fuel reprocessing or conditioning as would be required in order to implement accelerator driven transmutation of waste, is the insoluble residue, which remains after the majority of the fuel, is diss...
We describe a new approach for commercial nuclear energy production without a long-term high-level waste stream and for transmutation of both fission product and higher actinide commercial nuclear waste using a thermal flux of accelerator-produced neutrons in the 1016 n/cm2s range. Continuous neutron fluxes at this intensity, which is approximately 100 ...
We are applying the new coupled-cavity drift-tube linac (CCDTL) to a conceptual design of a high-current, CW accelerator for transmutation applications. A 350-MHz RFQ followed by 700--MHz structures accelerates a 100-mA proton beam to I GeV. Several advantages stem from four key features: (1) a uniform focusing lattice from the start ...
Researchers at Los Alamos have been developing transmutation concepts involving accelerator-driven nuclear systems. A medium energy, high current proton beam strikes a heavy metal target, producing a high flux of spallation neutrons. These neutrons are moderated to near-thermal energies in a blanket surrounding the target. Materials to be ...
An apparatus and method is described for transmuting higher actinides, plutonium and selected fission products in a liquid-fuel subcritical assembly. Uranium may also be enriched, thereby providing new fuel for use in conventional nuclear power plants. An accelerator provides the additional neutrons required to perform the processes. The size of the ...
Accelerator driven transmuters use a buffer region to protect the structural and the cladding materials of the transmuter from the radiation damage caused by the high-energy spallation neutrons, to accommodate the coolant channels of the self cooled targets, and to have an insignificant effect on the neutron ...
Superconducting high-intensity RF proton accelerators with CW power of l00 MW can be used for transmutation technologies. Compared to a normal-conducting, room-temperature RF linac, a superconducting linac could produce substantial savings in operational cost. In this paper, we describe the design of such a linac.
An assessment has been performed for an Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) concept based on the use of the high temperature gas reactor technology. The concept has been proposed by General Atomics for the ATW system. The assessment was jointly condu...
An Accelerator Driven System (ADS) for transmutation of nuclear waste typically requires a 600 MeV - 1 GeV accelerator delivering a proton flux of a few mA for demonstrators, and a few tens of mA for large industrial systems. This high power accelerator requires an exceptional reliability: ...
The accelerator-driven transmutation of waste (ATW) system has been proposed for transmuting the long-lived radioactive nuclei of high-level waste to stable or short-lived species. In recent ATW design concepts, lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE), consisting of ...
We discuss radiation damage to a transmutation system driven by a proton accelerator. The transmuter is composed of a lead target, beam window, structural wall, subcritical core, and reflector. Because of its subcritical condition, neutrons are supplied by the spallation reaction generated by high-energy protons. ...
The Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology (ADTT) Project carries three approaches for dealing with waste from the defense and commercial nuclear energy enterprise. First, the problem of excess weapons plutonium in the U.S. and Russia originating both from stockpile reductions and from defense production site clean-up is one of ...
The Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology (ADTT) Project carries three approaches for dealing with waste from the defense and commercial nuclear energy enterprise. First, the problem of excess weapons plutonium in the US and Russia originating both from stockpile reductions and from defense production site clean-up is one of ...
Four major challenges are facing the long-term development of nuclear energy: improvement of the economic competitiveness, meeting increasingly stringent safety requirements, adhering to the criteria of sustainable development, and public acceptance. Meeting the sustainability criteria is the driving force behind the topic of this paper. In this context, sustainability has two aspects: natural ...
This report discusses the Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) concept which aims at destruction of key long-lived radionuclides in high-level nuclear waste (HLW), both fission products and actinides. This focus makes it different from most other transmutation concepts which concentrate primarily on actinide burning. The ATW system ...
The National Research Council recently issued the report of its committee that studied technologies for separations and transmutation of radioactive wastes. In this paper we summarize the estimated performance of the transmutation concepts.
Understanding and predicting beam halo is a major issue for accelerator driven transmutation technologies. If strict beam loss requirements are not met, the resulting radioactivation can reduce the availability of the accelerator facility and may lead to the necessity for time-consuming remote ...
These proceedings represent papers presented at the 12th symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The symposium theme was ``commercialization and technology transfer``. The topics discussed include: wireless power transmission, solar power from space next generation spacecraft, space power electronics and power management, flight testing ...
The paper summarizes fuel cycle strategies which can call for the development of accelerator driven systems (ADS) and shows how an ADS-based transmutation strategy can be envisaged in a regional context. Finally, a path towards the demonstration of the ADS concept will be proposed, which accounts for the need of developing a consistent ...
The destruction of plutonium and other long-lived radionuclides in high-level nuclear waste is receiving considerable international technical interest and effort. At Los Alamos, accelerator-based concepts are under investigation which achieve high burnups of plutonium and other actinides and which simultaneously transmute key long-lived fission products. ...
Los Alamos National Laboratory has led the development of accelerator-driven transmutation of waste (ATW) to provide an alternative technological solution to the disposition of nuclear waste. While ATW will not eliminate the need for a high-level waste repository, it offers a new technology option for altering the ...
Transmutation of nuclear wastes (Minor Actinides and Long-Lived Fission Products) remains an important option to reduce the burden of high-level waste on final waste disposal in deep geological structures. Accelerator-Driven Systems (ADS) are considered as possible candidates to perform transmutation due to their subcritical operation ...
For the accelerator production of tritium (APT), the accelerator driven transmutation facility (ADTF), and the advanced fuel cycle initiative (AFCI), tungsten is being proposed as a target material to produce neutrons. In this study, tungsten rods were irradiated at the 800MeV Los Alamos Neutron Science Center ...
High-Intensity Low-Beta Ion Linac (HILBILAC) is intended for acceleration of ion beams with current of about 1 A and higher. The CW HILBILAC with beam current of 250 mA is under development at MRTI. Concept of parameters choice is presented along with results of beam dynamics and resonator parameters calculations. A pulse prototype HILBILAC-TEST will have to be constructed and ...
The current status of molten salt reactor development is discussed with reference to the experience from the Oak Ridge Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. Assessment of the future for this reactor system is reviewed with consideration of both advantages and disadvantages. Application of this concept to ADTT (accelerator driven ...
The actinide management has become a key issue in nuclear energy. Recovering and fissioning transuranium elements reduce the long-term proliferation risks and the environmental burden. The better way of waste management will be made by system symbiosis: a combination of light-water reactor and fast reactor and/or accelerator-driven transmutation system ...
RF driven proton accelerators for the transmutation of nuclear waste (ATW) or for the production of tritium (APT) require unprecedented amounts of CW RF power at UHF frequencies. For both systems, the baseline design is for 246 MW at 700 MHz and 8,5 MW at 350 MHz. The main technical challenges are how to design and build such a large ...
ATW destroys virtually all the plutonium and higher actinides without reprocessing the spent fuel in a way that could lead to weapons material diversion. An ATW facility consists of three major elements: (1) a high-power proton linear accelerator; (2) a pyrochemical spent fuel treatment i waste cleanup system; (3) a liquid lead-bismuth cooled burner that produces and utilizes ...
Faced with a backlog of nuclear waste and weapons plutonium, as well as an ever-increasing public concern about safety and environmental issues associated with conventional nuclear reactors, many countries are studying new, accelerator-driven technologies that hold the promise of providing safe and effective solutions to these problems. Proposed projects ...
Los Alamos National Laboratory has proposed several CW-proton-beam facilities for accelerator-driven transmutation technologies (ADTT) with beam-current densities greater than 5 mA/mm{sup 2}. The primary beam-diagnostics-instrumentation requirement for these facilities is to provide sufficient beam information to understand and ...
As requested by the U.S. Congress, a roadmap has been established for development of ATW Technology. The roadmap defines a reference system along with preferred technologies which require further development to reduce technical risk, associated deployment...
This paper describes principles of Accelerator-Driven Transmutation of Nuclear Wastes (ATW) and gives some flavour of the most important topics which are today under investigations in many countries. An assessment of the potential impact of ATW on a future of nuclear energy is also given. Nuclear reactors based on self-sustained fission reactions --- after ...
Nuclear waste from commercial power plants contains large quantities of plutonium, other fissionable actinides, and long-lived fission products that are potential proliferation concerns and create challenges for the long-term storage. Different strategies for dealing with nuclear waste are being followed by various countries because of their geologic situations and their views on nuclear energy, ...
The purpose of the U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), now within the broader context of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), is to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products. Success in this undertaking could ...
Reactor safety, the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, and nonproliferation of nuclear material for military purposes are the problems of greatest concern for nuclear energy. Technologies for accelerators developed in the field of high-energy physics can contribute to solving these problems. For reactor safety, especially for that of a Na-cooled fast ...
This dissertation presents the design and feasibility of a small-scale, fusion-based transmutation device incorporating a commercially available neutron generator. It also presents the design features necessary to optimize the device and render it practical for the transmutation of selected long-lived fission products and actinides. Four conceptual designs ...
Accelerator-driven transmutation technology has been under study at Los Alamos for several years for application to nuclear waste treatment, tritium production, energy generation, and recently, to the disposition of excess weapons plutonium. Studies and evaluations performed to date at Los Alamos have led to a current focus on a ...
There is a strong resurgent interest worldwide in heavy-liquid metals as nuclear coolant and spallation neutron target material. The continuing research and development (R and D) in accelerator-driven systems and accelerator-driven transmutation of waste have brought attention to the lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) nuclear coolant ...
Fissile fuel can be produced at a high rate using an accelerator-driven Pu-fueled subcritical fast reactor. Thus, the necessity of early introduction of the fast reactor can be moderated. High reliability of the proton accelerator, which is essential to implementing an accelerator-driven reactor in the nuclear energy field can be ...
The conceptual design study for a 1-MW Long-Pulse Spallation Source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center has shown the feasibility of including a spallation neutron test facility at a relatively low cost. This document presents a rationale for developing such a test bed. Currently, neutron scattering facilities operate at a maximum power of 0.2 MW. Proposed new designs call for power levels as ...
Nearly all risks to future generations arising from long-term disposal of used nuclear fuel are attributable to the transuranic elements and long-lived fission products, about 2% of its content. The transuranic elements of concern are plutonium, neptunium, americium, and curium. Long-lived (>100,000-year half-life) isotopes of iodine and technetium are also created by nuclear fission of ...
Recent studies on materials for the development of lead-bismuth (Pb-Bi)-cooled fast reactors (FR) and accelerator-driven sub-critical systems (ADS) in Japan are reported. The measurement of the neutron cross section of Bi to produce {sup 210}Po, the removal experiment of Po contamination and steel corrosion test in Pb-Bi flow were performed in Tokyo Institute of ...
Incorporation of molten fluoride salts into different carbon allotropes (glassy carbon, pyrolytic graphite etc.) and metallic foils (Ni, Ti, etc.), pristine and ion- treated substances, has been studied using non-destructive, depth sensitive nuclear analytical methods�Neutron Depth Profiling (NDP) and Rutherford Backscattering (RBS). Strong interaction between the molten LiF and LiF+KF+NaF salts ...
Accelerator-driven transmutation technology (ADTT) refers to a concept for a system that uses a blanket assembly driven by a source of neutrons produced when high-energy protons from an accelerator strike a heavy metal target. One application for such a system is called ...
The disposal of high-level radioactive waste has long been one of the most serious problems facing the nuclear industry. Transmutation of this waste through particle bombardment has been suggested numerous times as a possible method of enhancing the waste management process. Due to advances in accelerator technology, the feasibility of ...
Hybrid reactors (Accelerator Driven Sub-critical Systems, ADS), coupling an accelerator with a target and a sub-critical reactor, could simultaneously burn minor actinides and transmute long-lived fission products, while producing a consistent amount of electrical energy. A group of Italian research and development ...
Radiation damage in target, container, and window materials for spallation neutron sources is am important factor in the design of target stations for accelerator-driver transmutation technologies. Calculations are described that use the LAHET and SPECTER...
This document contains the diagrams presented at the ATW (Accelerator Transmutation of Waste and Energy Production) External Review, December 10-12, 1990, held at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Included are the charge to the committee and the presentations for the committee`s review. Topics of the presentations included an overview of the concept, LINAC ...
This report constitutes a summary review of the status and prospects of the development of accelerator spallation reactors for breeding fissile fuel and for transmuting fission products.
Today more than ever energy is not only a cornerstone of human development, but also a key to the environmental sustainability of economic activity. In this context, the role of nuclear power may be emphasized in the years to come. Nevertheless, the problems of nuclear waste, safety and proliferation still remain to be solved. It is believed that the use of accelerator-driven ...
In the frame of international concern about long-lived nuclear waste, the construction of an effective accelerator driven system for the transmutation or incineration of fission products and actinides is a promising task. A spallation source consisting of a Pb target surrounded by paraffin moderator was studied by irradiation with ...
A fluid fuel transmuter is proposed on the basis of circulating lead forming the fluid carrier material for long-lived actinides. Thermalization of neutrons is achieved by the use of graphite in the blanket leading to low actinide concentrations, typically around 100 g/l. An eigenvalue of 0.95 is aimed at and the extraneous source neutrons are provided by the interaction of ...
The coupling between an accelerator, a spallation target and a subcritical core has been studied for the first time at SCK�CEN in collaboration with Ion Beam Applications (IBA, Louvain-la-Neuve) in the frame of the ADONIS project (1995-1997). ADONIS was a small irradiation facility, based on the ADS concept, having a dedicated objective to produce radioisotopes for medical ...
An accelerator-driven fast reactor (700 MWt), run in a subcritical condition, and fueled with MOX can generate {sup 233}U more safely and efficiently than can a critical reactor. We evaluate the production of {sup 233}U, {sup 239}Pu, and the transmutation of the long-lived fission products of {sup 99}Tc and {sup 129}I, which are loaded with YH1.7 between ...
Plutonium recycle in fast reactors, as well as utilization/transmutation of minor actinides and long-lived fission products in hybrid reactor systems (e.g. accelerator driven systems, ADS) offer promising nuclear fuel backend management options. Several R&D programs in various IAEA Member States are actively pursuing these options, ...
The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute carries out R&D on accelerator-driven transmutation systems (ADTS) under the national OMEGA program (Options Making Extra Gains from Actinides and fission products). The code system named ATRAS was developed to analyze neutronics and burnup characteristics of ADTS. It has a unique function of burnup analysis ...
The accelerator-driven transmutation of waste (ATW) concept has been proposed by the United States and other countries to transmute plutonium, higher actinides, and other environmentally hazardous fission products. One of the key components in the ATW concept is a target that, via spallation, produces neutrons to ...
As a prior option of the next generation of energy source, the accelerator driven subcritical nuclear power system (ADS) can use efficiently the uranium and thorium resource, transmute the high-level long-lived radioactive wastes and raise nuclear safety. The ADS accelerator should provide the proton beam with tens ...
Apparatus for nuclear transmutation and power production using an intense accelerator-generated thermal neutron flux. High thermal neutron fluxes generated from the action of a high power proton accelerator on a spallation target allows the efficient burn-up of higher actinide nuclear waste by a two-step process. Additionally, rapid ...
DOEpatents
Accurate and reliable neutron capture cross section data for actinides are necessary for the proper design, safety regulation and precise performance assessment of transmutation devices such as Fast Critical Reactors or Accelerator Driven Systems. In particular, the neutron capture cross sections of 237Np, 240Pu and 243Am play a key ...
Accurate and reliable neutron-capture cross-section data for actinides are necessary for the proper design, safety regulation, and precise performance assessment of transmutation devices such as Fast Critical Reactors or Accelerator Driven Systems. In particular, the neutron-capture cross sections of 237Np, 240Pu, and 243Am play a key ...
Historically, subcritical accelerator-driven systems have been called electronuclear devices. Interest in these devices has been revived for numerous nuclear applications, such as boron neutron capture therapy, accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW), and accelerator-based conversion (ABC). The latter systems are ...
For a number of years, Los Alamos have collaborated with a team of experimentalists at Chalk River Labs who were pursuing the development of the front end of a high power cw proton accelerator. With the help of internal laboratory funding and modest defense conversion funds, we have set up and operated the accelerator at Los Alamos Operational equipment ...
Accelerator-based transmutation is being studied by ECN within its general nuclear waste transmutation programme RAS. In this paper the following contributions are presented: (1) Evaluation of cross sections at intermediate energies, within an internation...
There is renewed interest in using accelerator driven neutron sources to address the problem of high-level long-lived nuclear waste. Several laboratories have developed systems that may have a significant impact on the future use of nuclear power, adding options for dealing with long-lived actinide wastes and fission products, and for power production. ...
Fissile fuel can be produced at a high rate using an accelerator-driven Pu-fueled subcritical fast reactor which avoids encountering a shortage of Pu during a high growth rate in the production of nuclear energy. Furthermore, the necessity of the early introduction of the fast reactor can be moderated. Subcritical operation provides flexible nuclear energy options along with ...
An accelerator can be used to increase the safety and neutron economy of a power reactor and transmuter of long-lived radioactive wastes, such as minor actinides and fission products, by providing neutrons for its subcritical operation. Instead of the rather large subcriticality of k=0.9-0.95 which we originally proposed for such a transmutor, we propose ...
The proton beam target of an accelerator-driven transmutation facility can be designed as a vertical liquid lead column. To prevent lead vapor from entering the accelerator vacuum, a proton-beam window has to separate the area above the lead surface from the accelerator tube. Two radiation-cooled design ...
The Los Alamos design approach to Accelerator driven transmutation applications is based on high power proton linacs. Most of the accelerators that have been studied have one important element in common. That component is a funnel, where beams from two separate but identical front end linac systems are merged to ...
One of the concerns facing accelerator-driven transmutation systems (ADSs) is whether the radiotoxicity of materials produced during the transmutation process poses more of a concern than does the radiotoxicity of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) itself. Most of the common fission products (or FPs) are emitters of beta radiation, but ...
The Los Alamos concept for accelerator transmutation of nuclear waste (ATW) employs a high-power proton linear accelerator to generate intense fluxes of thermal neutrons (>10(sup 16) n/cm(sup 2)-s) through spallation on a lead-bismuth target. The nominal ...
Two main issues regarding the disposal of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors in the United States in the geological repository Yucca Mountain are: (1) Yucca Mountain is not designed to hold the amount of fuel that has been and is proposed to be generated in the next few decades, and (2) the radiotoxicity (i.e., biological hazard) of the waste (particularly the actinides) does not decrease ...
This detailed monograph focuses on the competition between physicists in four laboratories to achieve nuclear transmutation with artificially accelerated particles. The laboratories and their leaders were John Cockcroft at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England; Merle Tuve at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.; Ernest Lawrence at the ...
One new technology being explored to deal with highly radioactive elements that remain dangerous for thousands of years is transmutation-a modern twist on the ancient idea of transforming one element into another. This modern version of transmutation is not a new concept: transmutation is the essence of nuclear ...
A design is presented for a subcritical, He-cooled fast reactor, driven by a tokamak D-T fusion neutron source, for the transmutation of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The reactor is fueled with coated transuranic (TRU) particles and is intended for the deep-burn (>90%) transmutation of the TRUs in SNF without reprocessing of the ...
Our research tasks span the range of technology areas for transmutation, gas-cooled reactor technology, and high temperature heat exchangers, including separation of actinides from spent nuclear fuel, methods of fuel fabrication, reactor-accelerator coupled experiments, corrosion of materials exposed to ...
Accelerator-base systems are described that can eliminate long-lived nuclear materials. The impact of these systems on global issues relating to plutonium minimization and nuclear waste disposal can be significant. An overview of the components that comprise these systems is given, along with discussion of technology development status and needs. A ...
The National Research Council has recently issued the report of its committee that studied technologies for separations and transmutation of radioactive wastes. In Ref. 2 we discuss the theoretical transmutation performance of the transmutation concepts. In this paper we address the features that affect the ...
