Nuclear Data for the Thorium Fuel Cycle and the Transmutation of Nuclear Waste

2016 ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
F. Gunsing ◽  
S. Altstadt ◽  
J. Andrzejewski ◽  
L. Audouin ◽  
M. Barbagallo ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Aris V. Skarbeli ◽  
Rubén Eusebio‐Yebra ◽  
Pablo Romojaro ◽  
Francisco Álvarez‐Velarde ◽  
Daniel Cano‐Ott

2016 ◽  
pp. 195-198
Author(s):  
Haicheng Wu ◽  
Zhigang Ge ◽  
Weixiang Yu ◽  
Xiaolong Huang ◽  
Nengchuan Shu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Nukleonika ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemysław Stanisz ◽  
Jerzy Cetnar ◽  
Grażyna Domańska

Abstract The concept of closed nuclear fuel cycle seems to be the most promising options for the efficient usage of the nuclear energy resources. However, it can be implemented only in fast breeder reactors of the IVth generation, which are characterized by the fast neutron spectrum. The lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) was defined and studied on the level of technical design in order to demonstrate its performance and reliability within the European collaboration on ELSY (European Lead-cooled System) and LEADER (Lead-cooled European Advanced Demonstration Reactor) projects. It has been demonstrated that LFR meets the requirements of the closed nuclear fuel cycle, where plutonium and minor actinides (MA) are recycled for reuse, thereby producing no MA waste. In this study, the most promising option was realized when entire Pu + MA material is fully recycled to produce a new batch of fuel without partitioning. This is the concept of a fuel cycle which asymptotically tends to the adiabatic equilibrium, where the concentrations of plutonium and MA at the beginning of the cycle are restored in the subsequent cycle in the combined process of fuel transmutation and cooling, removal of fission products (FPs), and admixture of depleted uranium. In this way, generation of nuclear waste containing radioactive plutonium and MA can be eliminated. The paper shows methodology applied to the LFR equilibrium fuel cycle assessment, which was developed for the Monte Carlo continuous energy burnup (MCB) code, equipped with enhanced modules for material processing and fuel handling. The numerical analysis of the reactor core concerns multiple recycling and recovery of long-lived nuclides and their influence on safety parameters. The paper also presents a general concept of the novel IVth generation breeder reactor with equilibrium fuel and its future role in the management of MA.


Author(s):  
Lionel Boucher ◽  
Jean-Paul Grouiller ◽  
Charles Courtois ◽  
Sylvain David ◽  
Matthieu Maurin

In the frame of the French law for the researches about waste management, different dynamic scenarios have been studied [1]. These scenarios are considering the French case and start from the present situation, which consists in a single stage of Plutonium recycling in PWRs. The scenarios described in this paper take into account two main options: Continuation of nuclear energy or phase out option.


MRS Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (17-18) ◽  
pp. 959-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Diaz-Maurin ◽  
Hilary C. Sun ◽  
Jerold Yu ◽  
Rodney C. Ewing

ABSTRACTThe final disposal of nuclear waste is at the interface between the technologies of the nuclear fuel cycle that produce the waste and the natural hydrologic and geochemical cycles of geologic repositories. Despite this broad interdisciplinary scope, nuclear waste management, as practiced, remains “balkanized” among the relevant disciplines. The individual subdisciplines continue to work in relative isolation from one another: materials science dealing with the immobilization of nuclear waste; engineering science dealing with the design, construction and operation of the repository; geoscience dealing with the long-term behavior of host rocks and the hydrology; health science dealing with the effects of radiation; social sciences dealing with the issues of trust, risk and ethics. Understanding how these very different disciplines interact is fundamental to creating and managing a nuclear waste organization. Based on a comprehensive review of the scholarly and scientific literature of waste management, we have analyzed the evolution and structure of research in nuclear waste management between 1979 and 2017. Focusing on materials science, we show that some research themes have been isolated from the most central themes of nuclear waste management. Moreover, we observed a relative decline of the fundamental research in materials science. This decline was evidenced by a drop in the number of articles published in the proceedings of the MRS symposia “Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management” since 2000. We argue for the need to more precisely and inclusively define the field of nuclear waste management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Ritter ◽  
Romain Eschbach ◽  
Richard Girieud ◽  
Maxime Soulard

CESAR stands in French for “simplified depletion applied to reprocessing”. The current version is now number 5.3 as it started 30 years ago from a long lasting cooperation with ORANO, co-owner of the code with CEA. This computer code can characterize several types of nuclear fuel assemblies, from the most regular PWR power plants to the most unexpected gas cooled and graphite moderated old timer research facility. Each type of fuel can also include numerous ranges of compositions like UOX, MOX, LEU or HEU. Such versatility comes from a broad catalog of cross section libraries, each corresponding to a specific reactor and fuel matrix design. CESAR goes beyond fuel characterization and can also provide an evaluation of structural materials activation. The cross-sections libraries are generated using the most refined assembly or core level transport code calculation schemes (CEA APOLLO2 or ERANOS), based on the European JEFF3.1.1 nuclear data base. Each new CESAR self shielded cross section library benefits all most recent CEA recommendations as for deterministic physics options. Resulting cross sections are organized as a function of burn up and initial fuel enrichment which allows to condensate this costly process into a series of Legendre polynomials. The final outcome is a fast, accurate and compact CESAR cross section library. Each library is fully validated, against a stochastic transport code (CEA TRIPOLI 4) if needed and against a reference depletion code (CEA DARWIN). Using CESAR does not require any of the neutron physics expertise implemented into cross section libraries generation. It is based on top quality nuclear data (JEFF3.1.1 for ∼400 isotopes) and includes up to date Bateman equation solving algorithms. However, defining a CESAR computation case can be very straightforward. Most results are only 3 steps away from any beginner's ambition: Initial composition, in core depletion and pool decay scenario. On top of a simple utilization architecture, CESAR includes a portable Graphical User Interface which can be broadly deployed in R&D or industrial facilities. Aging facilities currently face decommissioning and dismantling issues. This way to the end of the nuclear fuel cycle requires a careful assessment of source terms in the fuel, core structures and all parts of a facility that must be disposed of with “industrial nuclear” constraints. In that perspective, several CESAR cross section libraries were constructed for early CEA Research and Testing Reactors (RTR’s). The aim of this paper is to describe how CESAR operates and how it can be used to help these facilities care for waste disposal, nuclear materials transport or basic safety cases. The test case will be based on the PHEBUS Facility located at CEA − Cadarache.


Author(s):  
Gary M. Sandquist

Although nuclear power appears to be expanding as a major global energy source, the disposal of radioactive waste from the nuclear fuel cycle still poses formidable challenges to the full expansion of the nuclear enterprise. The perception that nuclear wastes represent unique and insoluble threats to humans is ill founded. The risk from these radioactive materials is comparable and many ways less severe than other more familiar hazardous materials that are ubiquitous in the biosphere. Radioactive materials decay and reduce in time unlike stable elements. Besides the reduction of radioactive materials through decay, the dilution and dispersion of all hazardous materials by natural forces and events provides the reduction required to make adequate and safe disposal of nuclear waste possible. The ultimate sink for essentially all of these hazardous wastes will prove to be the oceans with their great capacity of dilution and containment.


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