Photon and neutron hybrid transmutation for radioactive cesium and iodine

Rehman, Haseeb ur; Ju, Kwangho; Kim, Yong Hee

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2019.06.029

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…To transmute the LLFPs efficiently, a thermal power of the order of 100 MWt is needed. Consequently, the 𝐼 𝛾 used to drive the ANES would exceed 10 19 , which is almost two orders of magnitudes higher than that of existing LCS designs 9,24 . Note that a few novel approaches, such as multiple laser extraction technology and photon storage cavity technology have been employed to enhance the 𝐼 𝛾 [25][26][27] .…”

Section: Production Of Pnsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The coolant temperature of the lead-based fast reactor ranges from 400 to 600 ℃, which is lower than the melting point of the CsI target (~ 620 ℃). In the simulations, the isotopic compositions for CsI target were employed according to SNF of a typical light water reactor 9 . These compositions are 127 I (11.49%), 129 I (38.51%), 133 Cs (25.28%), 134 Cs (0.01%), 135 Cs (7.92%) and 137 Cs (16.80%).…”

Section: Selection Of Llfpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The photonuclear transmutation becomes fascinating since it utilizes giant dipole resonance (GDR) reactions, which have slowly varied but medium GDR cross sections. After SNF partitioning, the selected seven LLFPs have mixed isotopic compositions 9,10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products in an Advanced Nuclear Energy System

Sun¹,

Luo²,

Lan³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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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 99Tc, 129I, 107Pd, 137Cs and 79Se could be transmuted by more than 30%. Their effective half-lives thus decrease drastically from ~106 to less than 102 years. It is suggested that this successful implementation of the ANES paves the avenue towards practical transmutation of LLFPs without isotopic separation.

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Section: Production Of Pnsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Selection Of Llfpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products in an Advanced Nuclear Energy System

Sun¹,

Luo²,

Lan³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are two key issues that affect transmutation efficiency of LLFPs: (1) transmutation cross sections; (2) isotopic compositions and density for sample target. Among these LLFPs, 93 Zr and 137 Cs can hardly be transmuted in a fast or a thermal neutron field since these radionuclides have small neutron capture cross sections 3 , 11 , 12 . The photonuclear transmutation becomes fascinating since it utilizes giant dipole resonance (GDR) reactions, which have slowly varied but medium GDR cross sections.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmutation of long-lived fission products in an advanced nuclear energy system

Sun

Luo

Lan

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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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 99Tc, 129I, 107Pd, 137Cs and 79Se could be transmuted by more than 30%. Their effective half-lives thus decrease drastically from ~ 106 to less than 102 years. It is suggested that this successful implementation of the ANES paves the avenue towards practical transmutation of LLFPs without isotopic separation.

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“…Compared with a conventional solid‐fuel reactor, a thermal spectrum MSR may provide a great potential for 135 Cs transmutation since 135 Cs can be initially loaded and/or online added to the core. In addition, the neutron capture cross section of 135 Cs in a thermal reactor (about 2.48 b) is much larger than that in a fast reactor (about 0.07 b), which is helpful to improve the transmutation capability of 135 Cs 12,15 . In this work, considering its thermal neutron spectrum and high Th‐U breeding capability, 16,17 a single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor (SD‐TMSR) is selected for evaluating the transmutation capability of 135 Cs which is produced from the decay of extracted 135 Xe by the helium bubbling system of the SD‐TMSR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmutation of ¹³⁵ Cs in a single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor

Chen

et al. 2020

Int J Energy Res

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Summary The single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor (SD‐TMSR) allows for online reprocessing fission products and adding nuclear fuel, which provides a high Th‐U breeding capability for thorium utilization. Although 135Xe in the core can be online extracted by the helium bubbling system during reactor operation to improve the reactor neutron economy, it would decay to the long‐lived 135Cs with a half‐life of 2.3 × 106 years, which is undesired from the viewpoint of the development of nuclear energy. The total production of 135Cs decayed from the extracted 135Xe is about 1.83 tons for the SD‐TMSR after 60 years operation. To reduce the significant accumulation of 135Cs, we propose a cooling transmutation method, by which the produced 135Cs is reinjected into the core for transmutation. First, a separation and multigroup cooling system in the SD‐TMSR is adopted to enhance the mass fraction of decayed 135Cs in the total Cs isotopes from 29% to 75%. Then, the separated Cs isotopes with optimized mass fraction of 135Cs are online injected into the core for transmutation. The total transmuted mass of 135Cs is about 0.61 tons after 60 years operation, corresponding to the transmuted fraction of about 37.42% and the transmutation rate of 10.17 kg/(GWe y). Moreover, the net 233U production is about 2.03 tons which is much larger than the initial 233U loading inventory of the SD‐TMSR, indicating that the Th‐U breeding mode for the transmutation of 135Cs in the SD‐TMSR can be achieved over 60 years. Novelty Statement “Transmutation of 135Cs in a single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor” was investigated by Kunfeng Ma, Chenggang Yu*, Jingen Chen*, and Xiangzhou Cai. A cooling transmutation method is performed to reduce the 135Cs decayed from 135Xe outside of core. It is found that a separation and multigroup cooling system improves the mass fraction of 135Cs in the total Cs isotopes from 29% to 75% and an online returning 135Cs transmutation scenario transmutes about 0.61 tons of 135Cs over 60 years.

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Photon and neutron hybrid transmutation for radioactive cesium and iodine

Cited by 6 publications

References 28 publications

Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products in an Advanced Nuclear Energy System

Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products in an Advanced Nuclear Energy System

Transmutation of long-lived fission products in an advanced nuclear energy system

Transmutation of ¹³⁵ Cs in a single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor

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Photon and neutron hybrid transmutation for radioactive cesium and iodine

Cited by 6 publications

References 28 publications

Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products in an Advanced Nuclear Energy System

Transmutation of Long-Lived Fission Products in an Advanced Nuclear Energy System

Transmutation of long-lived fission products in an advanced nuclear energy system

Transmutation of 135 Cs in a single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor

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Transmutation of ¹³⁵ Cs in a single‐fluid double‐zone thorium molten salt reactor