A proposed means of transmuting key long-lived radioactive isotopes, primarily the socalled minor actinides (Np, Am, Cm), using a hybrid proton-accelerator-sub-critical lattice, is described. It is argued that 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 long-lived fission products, that some of the most significant challenges in building a waste repository can be substantially reduced. If spent fuel partitioning and transmutation were fully implemented, the time required to reduce the waste stream toxicity below that of uranium ore would be reduced from more than 10,000 years to approximately 30 years. The proposed machine, based on the described PHOENIX Concept, would transmute the minor actinides and much of the iodine produced by 75 LWRs, and would generate usable electricity (beyond that required to run the large accelerator) of 850 MW g . iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe PHOENIX Concept uses a large linear proton accelerator to drive and control one or more subcritical lattices of minor actinides (Np, Am, Cm), to transmute the long-lived radioactive wastes from light-water reactors that are the most difficult to dispose of, and to produce electric power in the process. One 3600 MWj. machine would transmute the neptunium, americium, curium, and much of the iodine produced by about 75 light water reactors (LWRs), and would generate a net of about 850 MW g for the electrical grid.While not tied to a specific fuel reprocessing/recycling technology, much of the PHOENIX analysis performed thus far has been based on Westinghouse Hanford's proposed CURE approach, which is a waste partitioning process based on the well known PUREX process and the newer TRUEX process. Within the CURE framework, certain elements are to be recycled, transmuted, or simply separated from the major portion of the high-level wastes. The primary objective is to eliminate certain problem components from the bulk of the spent fuel so that the remainder can be packaged more easily (reduced heat load and shorter life-time requirements) for disposal in the geologic repository currently planned by DOE. In principle, the toxicity of the LWR waste stream could be reduced below that of naturally occurring uranium ore within a few decades (-30 years), as opposed to more than 10,000 years if unprocessed. Of the key long-lived elements to be isolated, several, including the uranium, plutonium, and technetium, could be either recycled into current or future reactors, or packaged separately for burial in the repository. The elements that would be most difficult to consume in LWRs, namely the minor actinides and the iodine, could be transmuted in PHOENIX with a high degree of safety and efficiency. In particular, the safety advantage comes from always running the machine subcritical, thereby making reactivity accidents insignificant, and the efficiency advantage comes from eliminating the need for uranium or plutonium feed, because the a...
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