Accelerator-Driven Systems for Nuclear Waste Transmutation

Abstract

The renewed interest since 1990 in accelerator-driven subcritical systems for transmutation of commercial nuclear waste has evolved to focus on the issue of whether fast-or thermal-spectrum systems offer greater promise. This review addresses the issue by comparing the performance of the more completely developed thermal-and fast-spectrum designs. Substantial design information is included to allow an assessment of the viability of the systems compared. The performance criteria considered most important are (a) the rapidity of reduction of the current inventory of plutonium and minor actinide from commercial spent fuel, (b) the cost, and (c) the complexity. The liquid-fueled thermal spectrum appears to offer major advantages over the solid-fueled fast-spectrum system, making waste reduction possible with about half the capital requirement on a substantially shorter time scale and with smaller separations requirements.

A threshold for laser-driven linear particle acceleration in unbounded vacuum

“…We consequently derive a general formula for the acceleration threshold of such schemes and support our conclusion with the results of numerical simulations over a broad range of parameters for different kinds of pulsed laser beams.Energetic particle beams are crucial to the progress of fields across the spectrum of science and technology, from cancer treatment [1] to particle physics [2] to inertial confinement fusion [3], nanolithography [4] and radioactive waste management [5].High-intensity laser systems, made possible by chirped-pulsed amplification [6], can provide accelerating gradients that surpass those of conventional accelerators by as much as six orders of magnitude [7], paving the way to an era of table-top particle accelerators and table-top x-ray laser systems. Although plasma-based acceleration schemes [8] have had much experimental success, the possibility of accelerating particles in vacuum [9,10] remains of great interest since the absence of plasma would preclude problems associated with the inherent instability of laser-plasma interactions.…”

“…Energetic particle beams are crucial to the progress of fields across the spectrum of science and technology, from cancer treatment [1] to particle physics [2] to inertial confinement fusion [3], nanolithography [4] and radioactive waste management [5].…”

Radiation Damage and Fission Product Release in Zirconium Nitride

“…These reactions are produced from within a fuel form which is enriched Figure 2.5: Possible AFCI reactor scheme [10] such that the density of fissile isotopes will cause a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Neutrons of higher energy tend to be absorbed more readily by fertile isotopes and as such can transmute these into other isotopes.…”

“…Figure 2.1: Pre and post-transmutation waste transuranics [10] be altered. Shutting down all world-wide nuclear power reactors now would only hold the waste quantity constant, and thus do nothing to address the problem of the current waste.…”

Measurement of inclusive photonuclear (γ,n) reaction cross section for 129I

“…A UK report on the transmutation of nuclear waste [7] emphasized the importance of launching new ideas in radioactive waste management. Technique has recently been proposed for waste management by a particle accelerator [8,9].…”