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...
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...
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 ...
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
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 ...
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 ...
Energy Citations Database
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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
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) studies, from the ...
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
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...
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 ...
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 Assembly for Plutonium Transformation (ADAPT) ...
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 ...
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 accelerators in China, ...
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 driven ...
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 Technologies (ADTT), LANSCE and WNR ...
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 Accelerator Driven Systems, as ...
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 Transmutation ...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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 energy physics), ...
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 accelerator to exploit thermal energy neutrons ...
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 ...
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 plutonium disposition ...
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 accelerators would enable ...
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 abroad. This paper describes the enabling ...
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 ...
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...
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.
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 part is supposed to be ...
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 of potential ...
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 simple nuclear weapons ...
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 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. ...
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 ...
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 be used to produce neutrons with a molten ...
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 power for control of the accelerator ...
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% reserve power for control of the ...
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 weapons and spent reactor ...
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 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 ...
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...
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 ...
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.
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 Accelerat...
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 maintenance. Recently ...
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 could also pave the way ...
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 ...
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 out some neutronic ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 of the CCDTL at about 7 MeV to the end of ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 (R&D) ...
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. ...
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 material inventory ...
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 technology safer than ordinary reactors in ...
NSDL National Science Digital Library
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 spectacular ...
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, ...
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: because of the induced thermal stress to the ...
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 ...
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 an intense ...
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 ...
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 create a modeling and analysis tool that ...
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 ...
The objective of this study is to develop a code system for core analysis= of the critical transmutation reactors utilizing fast neutrons. Core characteristics of the transmutation reactors were identified and four codes, HANCELL for pincell calculation, ...
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 ...
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 a few of the ...
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 ...
This study is part of a complex research of Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technologies (ADTT) carried out by a collaboration of the NPI ASCR in Rez with the JINR in Dubna. The aim of the experiment was to check the validity of the model descriptions and the cross-section libraries used in the corresponding ...
This study is part of a complex research of Accelerator Driven Transmutation Technologies (ADTT) carried out by a collaboration of the NPI ASCR in ?e� with the JINR in Dubna. The aim of the experiment was to check the validity of the model descriptions and the cross-section libraries used in the corresponding ...
One of the main SCKCEN research facility, namely BR2, is nowadays arriving at an age of 40 years just like the major materials testing reactors (MTR) in the world and in Europe (i.e. BR2 (B-Mol), HFR (EU-Petten), OSIRIS (F-Saclay), R2 (S-Studsvik)). The MYRRHA facility in planning has been conceived as potentially replacing BR2 and to be a fast spectrum facility complementary to the thermal ...
One of the main SCK�CEN research facility, namely BR2, is nowadays arriving at an age of 40 years just like the major materials testing reactors (MTR) in the world and in Europe (i.e. BR2 (B-Mol), HFR (EU-Petten), OSIRIS (F-Saclay), R2 (S-Studsvik)). The MYRRHA facility in planning has been conceived as potentially replacing BR2 and to be a fast spectrum facility complementary to the thermal ...
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 (LANSCE) proton ...
Lead-Bismuth Eutectic and Tungsten are under consideration as target materials with high-energy protons for generating neutrons to drive actinide and fission product transmuters. A detailed characterization has been performed to study the performance of t...
facility (in 7 years) -- ESS�I Eur. spallation neutron source for n�spectroscopy -- Eur. XFEL hard X of spallation neutron sources, transmutation of nuclear waste in accelerator driven systems [21], and shielding, Oct.17�22nd, Tsukuba, Japan (1999) 8. Spallation Neutron Source SNS, http://www.ornl.gov/sns/ 9. C
A long-term strategy based on existing technological, ecological, economical, and geopolitical realities is urgently needed to develop a sustainable energy economy, which should be designed with adaptability to unpredicted changes in any of these aspects. While only a highly diverse energy portfolio and conservation can ultimately guarantee optimum sustainability, based on a ...
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 significant current and ...
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 significant current and ...
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 purposes and more ...
In the FUTURE Program, the development and application of fertile-free fuels for Accelerator Driven Transmuters (ADTs) has been advanced. To assess the reactor performance and safety behavior of an ADT with so-called dedicated fuels, various transient cases for an 800 MW-class Pb/Bi-cooled ADT were investigated using the SIMMER-III ...
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 ...
Based on the performance assessment of current reactor nuclear design codes, CASMO-3, LEOPARD, CITATION could be used for the simulation of transmutation, but further improvements are required on the reliability of cross sections of MA or FP and the accur...
Several countries are now involved in efforts aimed at utilizing accelerator-driven technologies to solve problems of national and international importance. These technologies have both economic and environmental implications. The technologies include was...
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 megawatts. The ...
Accelerator Driven System (ADS) has been studied to transmute minor actinides (MA) discharged from spent fuel of commercial nuclear power plants. In Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), various R and D for an 800 MWt, lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) cooled ADS have been performed. The feasibility for the ADS is discussed in the present study ...
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 Accelerator-Based Plutonium Conversion, or ABC. Currently, the ...
The U. S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) seeks to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to transmute the long-lived transuranic actinide isotopes contained in spent nuclear fuel into shorter-lived fission products, thereby dramatically decreasing the volume of material requiring disposition and the long-term radiotoxity and heat load of ...
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 needed to ...
DOEpatents
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 ...
The problems involved in the neutron transmutation doping process are summarized. The concerns related to damage in transmutation doped silicon resulting from the neutron irradiation are presented. Suggestions for future research are presented.
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, ...
TRASCO-ADS is a national funded program in which INFN, ENEA, and Italian industries work on the design of an accelerator driven subcritical system for nuclear waste transmutation. TRASCO is the Italian acronym for Transmutation (TRAsmutazione) of Waste (SCOrie). One of the most critical aspects in the design of an ...
Studies in nuclear energy and transmutation of radioactive waste require neutron data for conceptual and performance studies, to determine the viability of advanced ideas such as an Accelerator Driven System and to fix the safety margins of any new concepts. IRMM's neutron data-measurement program addresses data needs ...
Studies in nuclear energy and transmutation of radioactive waste require neutron data for conceptual and performance studies, to determine the viability of advanced ideas such as an Accelerator Driven System and to fix the safety margins of any new concepts. IRMM's neutron data-measurement program addresses data needs associated with ...
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 nature of nuclear ...
An important ingredient in the performance of accelerator driven systems for energy production, waste transmutation and other applications are the number of spallation neutrons produced per incident proton. The neutron multiplicities, angular and energy distributions are usually calculated using simulation codes. We have presented ...
Liquid lead and lead-bismuth have drawn the attention as one of the candidate coolants of the fast breeder reactors (FBRs), and the accelerator driven transmutation systems (ADSs). In order to use the coolant to the systems, the physical and chemical characteristics of the heavy metals are necessary. This plan has been proposed for the ...
Actinide removal from molten salts can be accomplished by a two step process where the actinide is first oxidized to the oxide using a chemical oxidant such as calcium carbonate or sodium carbonate. After the actinide is precipitated as an oxide the molten salt is distilled away from the actinide oxides leaving a oxide powder heel and an actinide free distilled salt that can be recycled back into ...
A flux-coupled stack of superconducting isochronous cyclotrons could be used to drive thorium-cycle fission power. The 800 MeV proton beams produce fast neutrons through spallation, then the fast neutrons transmute the thorium into uranium and drive fission. The thorium reactor would provide GW electric power, eat its own long-lived waste, run for 7 years between core ...
The management of long-lived high-level waste, such as minor actinides (MA) and long-lived fission products (LLFP), is one of the most important issues to be solved for the utilization of the nuclear fission energy. The transmutation project of the radioactive wastes based on an accelerator driven sub-critical (ADS) system is very ...
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 form a collinear beam ...
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 taking into account ...
Lead-Bismuth Eutectic is under consideration as a target material with high-energy protons for generating spallation neutrons to operate actinide and fission product transmuters. An assessment has been performed to study the performance of this target material as a function of the main variables and the design selections. The assessment includes the neutron yield, the spatial ...
The capabilities of modern proton or deuteron linear accelerators (1 GeV, 200 mA average current) enable a new physics and engineering approach using thermal neutrons to transmute both actinide and fission product radioactive wastes to short-lived or non-radioactive by-products. A clean and economically attractive energy source with a long-term plentiful fuel supply and no ...
Innovative nuclear technology applications have emerged in recent years and triggered an unprecedented interest of different communities of scientists worldwide, concerned by the multidisciplinary scientific, technical and engineering aspects of such applications. ADS (Accelerator Driven Systems, for the ...
One can design a critical system with fissile material in the form of a thin layer on the inner surface of a cylindrical neutron moderator such as graphite or beryllium. Recently, we have investigated the properties of critical and near critical systems based on the use of thin actinide layers of uranium, plutonium and americium. The thickness of the required fissile layer depends on the type of ...
Several countries are now involved in efforts aimed at utilizing accelerator-driven technologies to solve problems of national and international importance. These technologies have both economic and environmental implications. The technologies include waste transmutation, plutonium conversion, ...
An attractive option for dealing with the problems of nuclear waste disposal includes reprocessing spent light water reactor fuel to recover and recycle the uranium and plutonium, partitioning key long-lived actinides and fission products, and transmuting recovered and purified very long-lived problem isotopes. Most transmutation studies have dealt with ...
In order to establish a simple and common basis which can be referred for the specific studies on the fission products (FP) transmutation and its strategies, the general characteristics of the dominant individual FPs in terms of their production and transmutation in the fast reactor have been studied with an ideal model in the present paper. The potential ...
Accelerator-driven systems for fissile materials production have been proposed and studied since the early 1950s. Recent advances in beam power levels for small accelerators have raised the possibility that such use could be feasible for a potential proliferator. The objective of this study is to review the state of technology development for ...
Photon production and photonuclear reaction data, with emphasis on theoretical model aspects aimed at reliable evaluations, represent a challenge in many technological applications, from radiation shielding for different nuclear systems, including accelerators, to devices relevant to nuclear energy applications, particularly the ones concerning the ...
Solenoidal magnets have been used as the beam transport system in all the high current electron induction accelerators that have been built in the past several decades. They have also been considered for the front end transport system for heavy ion accelerators for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) drivers, but this option has received very little attention in recent years. The analysis reported here ...
Accelerator-driven neutron technologies use spallation neutron sources (SNS`s) in which high-energy protons bombard a heavy-element target and spallation neutrons are produced. The materials exposed to the most damaging radiation environments in an SNS are those in the path of the incident proton beam. This includes target and window materials. These ...
An accelerator-driven thermal-spectrum liquid-fueled system is described for transmutation of spent fuel from commercial power reactors. The primary purpose of the system is to destroy the weapons-useful plutonium and neptunium in commercial spent fuel and thereby eliminate international concerns about the recovery of such material from geologic repositories for nuclear ...
Potential fuel cycle impacts resulting from partitioning-transmutation identified and discussed are: increased actinide neutron activity; fabrication and waste actinides; operational effluent releases; analysis of the benefits of partitioning-transmutation; cost of partitioning-transmutation; and analysis of incentives for ...
A design has been developed for using accelerator-driven thorium fission to produce electric power. A thorium-cycle reactor works by electro-breeding. A pattern of thorium fuel rods is supported in a vessel containing molten lead. A beam of high-energy (1 GeV) protons is targeted in the center of the vessel, and produces a copious flux of energetic neutrons by spallation. The ...
The concept and general layout of a new high-power proton multistage isochronous cyclotron is presented. Key design features include the use of large-diameter cyclotron rings having low magnetic fields and the coaxial nesting of several cyclotron stages. The proposed Coaxial-Ring Cyclotrons (CRC) accelerator system has several advantages as compared to conventional cyclotrons. It has wide ...
Since 1998, SCK*CEN, in partnership with IBA s.a. and many European research laboratories, is designing a multipurpose accelerator driven system (ADS) for Research and Development (R&D) applications-MYRRHA-and is conducting an associated R&D support programme. MYRRHA is an ADS under development at Mol in Belgium and is aiming to serve as a basis ...
PubMed
The thermo-physical properties of Heavy Liquid Metals (Pb and Pb-Bi Eutectic) such as the low melting and high boiling temperatures, the chemical inertness in direct contact with typical reactor coolants, makes HLMs to relevant candidates as core coolant of critical and sub-critical nuclear systems. In addition the high neutron yield obtained by proton irradiation renders this material attractive ...
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...
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...
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 ...
As part of the effort to investigate the use of an electron accelerator driven system for TRU transmutation, the effects of TRU distributions in the core on transmuter system performance was examined in this paper. The system performance examined includes the transmutation and system power ...
Programme A. Nuclear Power Subprogramme A.4 Technology Development for Advanced Reactor Lines. Project A.4.02: Technology advances in fast reactors and accelerator driven systems CRP Title: Analysis and Materials Technologies Subprogramme B.2 Nuclear Power Reactor Fuel Engineering Project ...
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 ...
Due to increasing concerns over the buildup of long-lived transuranic isotopes in spent nuclear fuel waste, attention has been given in recent years to technologies that can burn up these species. The separation and transmutation of transuranics is part o...
Recent advances in accelerator technology have led to the practical realization of high-power beams. When coupled with high-power spallation target technology, these systems offer a more environmentally-friendly method of producing neutrons than reactors. We will focus our attention here on the application of spallation technology to ...
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Since 1991, the CEA has studied the physics of hybrid systems, involving a sub-critical reactor coupled with an accelerator. These studies have provided information on the potential of hybrid systems to transmute actinides and, long lived fission products. The potential of such a system remains to be proven, specifically in terms of the physical understanding of the different ...
Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) for nuclear waste transmutation require proton drivers with energies between 600 and 800 MeV and beam currents of several mA for demonstrators and up to 25 mA for large industrial systems. Within the EUROTRANS project a 600 MeV linac has been designed to meet the stringent requirements regarding ...
Lead-Bismuth Eutectic and Tungsten are under consideration as target materials with high-energy protons for generating neutrons to drive actinide and fission product transmuters. A detailed characterization has been performed to study the performance of these target materials as a function of the main variables and the design selections. The characterization includes the ...
The application of thermal-spectrum molten-salt reactors and accelerator-driven subcritical systems to the destruction of weapons-return plutonium is considered from the perspective of deriving the maximum societal benefit. The enhancement of electric power production from burning the fertile fuel {sup 232}Th with the plutonium is evaluated. Also the enhancement of destruction of the accumulated ...
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is involved in the analysis of many different types of nuclear systems. The nuclear systems that we have analyzed have included subcritical accelerator driven systems for the transmutation of waste, fusion systems, critical experiment systems, and space propulsion and power systems. We have ...
High-power proton linacs for nuclear materials transmutation and production, and new accelerator-driven neutron spallation sources must be designed to control beam-halo formation, which leads to beam loss. The study of particle-core models is leading to a better understanding of the causes and characteristics of beam halo produced by space-charge forces in ...
Subcritical nuclear reactors driven by intense neutron sources can be very suitable tools for nuclear waste transmutation, particularly in the case of minor actinides with very low fractions of delayed neutrons. A proper control of these systems needs to know at every time the absolute value of the reactor subcriticality (negative reactivity), which must be measured by fully ...
Accelerator driven nuclear transmutation system has been pursued to have a clue to the solution of high-level radioactive waste management. The concept consists of super conducting linac, sub-critical reactor and the beam window. Reference model is set up to 800MW thermal power by using 1.5GeV proton beams with considerations ...
Study of a small accelerator-driven subcritical research reactor in the Vin?a Institute of Nuclear Sciences was initiated in 1999. The idea was to extract a beam of medium-energy protons or deuterons from the TESLA accelerator installation, and to transport and inject it into the reactor. The reactor core was to be composed of the highly enriched uranium fuel elements. The ...
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 systems (ADSs) for ...
The main challenge in nuclear fuel cycle closure is the reduction of the potential radiotoxicity of spent LWR nuclear fuel, or the length of time in which that potential hazard exists. Partitioning and accelerator-based transmutation in combination with geological disposal can lead to an acceptable societal solution for the nuclear spent fuel management problem. Nuclear fuel ...
The U.S. concept for actinide transmutation is currently envisioned as a system to destroy plutonium as well as minor actinides in a single or two tier system. In order to maximize the actinide destruction rate, an inert matrix fuel is used. The effectiveness of transmutation in reducing the actinide inventory is linked to the development of a robust fuel ...
The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) program is addressing key issues associated with critical national needs. This paper compares the major options with these major �outcome� objectives - waste geological repository capacity and cost, energy security and sustainability, proliferation resistance, fuel cycle economics, and safety as well as �process� objectives associated with ...
The process of creating doped materials for semiconductors by the method of in-situ neutron transmutation doping sees increasing use in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. This book, which represents the proceedings of the Fourth Neutron Transmutation Doping Conference, is a collection of articles and papers on topics germane to the subject of NTD ...
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...
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 being investigated at Los Alamos National ...
A key roadblock to development of additional nuclear power capacity is a concern over management of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste is predominantly comprised of used fuel discharged from operating nuclear reactors. The roughly 100 operating US reactors currently produce about 20% of the US electricity and will create about 87,000 tons of such discharged or ``spent'' fuel over the course of their ...
Neutron yield and energy production in a very large, practically infinite, uranium and thorium target-blocks irradiated by protons with energies in the range 0.1-2 GeV are studied by Monte Carlo method. Though the comparison of uranium and thorium targets shows that the neutron yield in the latter is 30-40 % less and the energy gain is approximatelly two times smaller, ...
Subcritical Assembly in Dubna (SAD), a project funded by the International Science and Technology Centre, driven in collaboration with many European partners, may become the first Accelerator Driven Subcritical experiment coupling an existing proton accelerator of 660 MeV with a compact MQX-fuelled subcritical core. The main objective ...
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 ...
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 ...
The potential to incinerate minor actinides (MA) in a sub-critical accelerator-driven system (ADS) is a subject of study in several countries where nuclear power plants are present. The performance of the MYRRHA experimental ADS, as to the transmutation of Am and Cm in the inert matrix fuel (IMF) samples consisting of 40 vol.% (Cm0.1Am0.5Pu0.4)O1.88 fuel ...
In the recently completed RACE Project of the AFCI, accelerator-driven subcritical systems (ADS) experiments were conducted to develop technology of coupling accelerators to nuclear reactors. In these experiments electron accelerators induced photon-neutron reactions in heavy-metal targets to initiate fission reactions in ADS. Although the Idaho State ...
Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) of Ukraine has a plan to construct an accelerator driven subcritical assembly. The main functions of the subcritical assembly are the medical isotope production, neutron thereby, and the support of the Ukraine nuclear industry. Reactor physics experiments and material research will be ...
The major groups engaged in transmutation research are converging towards a common objective and similar technology. It is now possible to envision an international program of research aimed at the destruction of reactor-generated (and other) nuclear waste using a series of multipurpose experimental facilities in the near future. Los Alamos National ...
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.
The principal results of a series of design scoping studies of sub-critical fast transmutation reactors (based on the nuclear and processing technology being developed in the USDoE Generation IV, Advanced Fuel Cycle and Next Generation Nuclear Plant programs) coupled with a tokamak fusion neutron source (based on the ITER design basis physics and ...
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 loads. Using these results a structural and ...
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...
To quantitatively assess the maturity of a given technology, the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) process is used. The TRL process has been developed and successfully used by the Department of Defense (DOD) for development and deployment of new technology and systems for defense applications. In addition, NASA has also successfully ...
Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) present one of the most viable solutions for transmutation and effective utilization of nuclear fuel. Spent fuel from reactors will be partitioned to separate plutonium and other minor actinides to be transmuted in the ADS. Without the ADS, minor actinides must be stored at a ...
Fission is the most important nuclear reaction for society at large today due to its use in energy production. However, this has raised the problem of how to treat the long-lived radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. A radical solution would be to change the composition of the waste into stable or short-lived nuclides, which could be done through nuclear transmutation. Such ...
The final goals of this research are completion of design for construction of wet hot cell and auxiliary facilities, and development of main equipment and technologies for remote operation and near real time monitoring system of radioactivity in solution....
The final goals of this research are completion of design for construction of wet hot cell and auxiliary facilities, and development of main equipments and technologies for remote operation and near real time monitoring system of radioactivity of solution...
The YALINA facility is a zero-power, sub-critical assembly driven by a conventional neutron generator. It was conceived, constructed, and put into operation at the Radiation Physics and Chemistry Problems Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus located in Minsk-Sosny, Belarus. This facility was conceived for the purpose of investigating the static and dynamic neutronics properties ...
The Reactor Accelerator Coupling Experiments (RACE) are a set of neutron source driven subcritical experiments under temperature feedback conditions. These experiments will involve coupling an accelerator driven neutron source to a TRIGA reactor system in a subcritical configuration. The accelerator source will consist of a 40 MeV electron linear ...
Neutron-induced fission cross-sections of minor actinides have been measured at the white neutron source n_TOF at CERN, Geneva. The studied isotopes include 233U, interesting for Th/U based nuclear fuel cycles, 241,243Am and 245Cm, relevant for transmutation and waste reduction studies in new generation fast reactors (Gen-IV) or Accelerator ...
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 of a few tens of mA for large industrial systems. Such a machine belongs to the category of the high-power proton accelerators, with an additional requirement ...
Spent fuel from nuclear power plants contains large quantities of Pu, other actinides, and fission products (FP). This creates challenges for permanent disposal because of the long half-lives of some isotopes and the potential for diversion of the fissile material. Two issues of concern for the US repository concept are: (1) long-term radiological risk peaking tens-of-thousands of years in the ...
Studies have shown that the repository long-term radiological risk is from the long-lived transuranics and the fission products Tc-99 and I-129, thermal loading concerns arise mainly form the short-lived fission products Sr-90 and Cs-137. In relation to the disposition of nuclear waste, ATW is expected to accomplish the following: (1) destroy over 99.9% of the actinides; (2) destroy over 99.9% of ...
It is desirable to have only a small reactivity change in the large burn-up of a solid fuel fast reactor, so that the number of replacements or shuffling of the fuel can be reduced, and plant factor accordingly increased. Also, this reduces the number of control rods needed for the change in burn-up reactivity. In subcritical operation, power controlled by beam power is suggested, but this ...
The Accelerator Driven Test Facility (ADTF) is being developed as a reactor concepts test bed for transmutation of nuclear waste. A 13.3 mA continuous-wave (CW) proton beam will be accelerated to 600 MeV and impinged on a spallation target. The subsequent neutron shower is used to create a nuclear reaction within a subcritical assembly ...
