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Transmutation of long-lived fission products in an advanced nuclear energy system.
- Source :
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Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2022 Feb 09; Vol. 12 (1), pp. 2240. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Feb 09. - Publication Year :
- 2022
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Abstract
- Disposal of long-lived fission products (LLFPs) produced in reactors has been paid a lot attention for sustainable and clean nuclear energy. Although a few transmutation means have been proposed to address this issue, there are still scientific and/or engineering challenges to achieve efficient transmutation of LLFPs. In this study, we propose a novel concept of advanced nuclear energy system (ANES) for transmuting LLFPs efficiently without isotopic separation. The ANES comprises intense photoneutron source (PNS) and subcritical reactor, which consist of lead-bismuth (Pb-Bi) layer, beryllium (Be) layer, and fuel, LLFPs and shield assemblies. The PNS is produced by bombarding radioactive cesium and iodine target with a laser-Compton scattering (LCS) γ-ray beam. We investigate the effect of the ANES system layout on transmutation efficiency by Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that a proper combination of the Pb-Bi layer and the Be layer can increase the utilization efficiency of the PNS by a factor of ~ 10, which helps to decrease by almost the same factor the LCS γ-beam intensity required for driving the ANES. Supposing that the ANES operates over 20 years at a normal thermal power of 500 MWt, five LLFPs including <superscript>99</superscript> Tc, <superscript>129</superscript> I, <superscript>107</superscript> Pd, <superscript>137</superscript> Cs and <superscript>79</superscript> Se could be transmuted by more than 30%. Their effective half-lives thus decrease drastically from ~ 10 <superscript>6</superscript> to less than 10 <superscript>2</superscript>  years. It is suggested that this successful implementation of the ANES paves the avenue towards practical transmutation of LLFPs without isotopic separation.<br /> (© 2022. The Author(s).)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2045-2322
- Volume :
- 12
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Scientific reports
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 35140312
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06344-y