Zirconia ceramics for excess weapons plutonium waste

Gong, Weiliang; Lutze, W.; Ewing, Rodney C.

doi:10.1016/s0022-3115(99)00195-6

Cited by 176 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…In this case, reactors would burn a mixture of MOX and IMF (perhaps up to one-third of the core loading). This option substantially reduces the Pu and minor actinide content of irradiated IMF, and the zirconia (ZrO 2 ) is recognized as a durable, radiation-resistant waste form for direct disposal (Gong et al 2000). The use of ZrO 2 as an inert matrix fuel is under active investigation in Europe and Japan, but it may take more than a decade to confi rm its behavior under actual operating conditions in a reactor.…”

Section: The Nuclear Fuel Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ion-beam irradiations can be used to simulate ␣-decay event damage under carefully controlled experimental conditions (e.g., ion mass and energy, temperature and fl uence) (Ewing et al 2000). Most experiments have been performed in situ generally using the IVEM-Tandem or HVEM-Tandem (now dismantled) facilities at Argonne National Laboratory.…”

Section: Ion-beam Simulation Of ␣-Decay Damagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The critical amorphization fl uence (ions/cm 2 ), D c , is the fl uence at which all of the diffraction maxima in the selected-area electron-diffraction pattern disappear, and the sample is considered to be amorphous. Typically, the fl uence (ions/cm 2 ) is converted to units of displacements per atom (dpa) in order to facilitate the comparison of radiation effects on different materials subjected to different types of radiation (e.g., a high-energy ion versus an ␣-decay recoil atom: Ewing et al 2000). The conversion requires a knowledge of the minimum energy required to permanently displace an atom from its position in the structure (i.e., generally assumed to be ~50 eV for all atoms in pyrochlore structure) and the use of a code, SRIM (the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter).…”

Section: Ion-beam Simulation Of ␣-Decay Damagementioning

confidence: 99%

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THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE versus THE CARBON CYCLE

Ewing¹

2005

The Canadian Mineralogist

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Nuclear power provides approximately 17% of the world's electricity, which is equivalent to a reduction in carbon emissions of ~0.5 gigatonnes (Gt) of C/yr. This is a modest reduction as compared with global emissions of carbon, ~7 Gt C/yr. Most analyses suggest that in order to have a signifi cant and timely impact on carbon emissions, carbon-free sources, such as nuclear power, would have to expand total production of energy by factors of three to ten by 2050. A three-fold increase in nuclear power capacity would result in a projected reduction in carbon emissions of 1 to 2 Gt C/yr, depending on the type of carbon-based energy source that is displaced. This three-fold increase utilizing present nuclear technologies would result in 25,000 metric tonnes (t) of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) per year, containing over 200 t of plutonium. This is compared to a present global inventory of approximately 280,000 t of SNF and >1,700 t of Pu. A nuclear weapon can be fashioned from as little as 5 kg of 239 Pu. However, there is considerable technological fl exibility in the nuclear fuel cycle. There are three types of nuclear fuel cycles that might be utilized for the increased production of energy: open, closed, or a symbiotic combination of different types of reactor (such as, thermal and fast neutron reactors). The neutron energy spectrum has a signifi cant effect on the fi ssion product yield, and the consumption of long-lived actinides, by fi ssion, is best achieved by fast neutrons. Within each cycle, the volume and composition of the high-level nuclear waste and fi ssile material depend on the type of nuclear fuel, the amount of burn-up, the extent of radionuclide separation during reprocessing, and the types of materials used to immobilize different radionuclides. As an example, a 232 Th-based fuel cycle can be used to breed fi ssile 233 U with minimum production of Pu. In this paper, I will contrast the production of excess carbon in the form of CO 2 from fossil fuels with the production of plutonium in a uranium-based nuclear fuel cycle, with special emphasis on the "mineralogical solution" for the "sequestration" of Pu into pyrochlore structure-types.

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Section: The Nuclear Fuel Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ion-beam Simulation Of ␣-Decay Damagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ion-beam Simulation Of ␣-Decay Damagementioning

confidence: 99%

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THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE versus THE CARBON CYCLE

Ewing¹

2005

The Canadian Mineralogist

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“…The long-lived actinides are among the most important contributors to the calculated exposures to humans over the long periods envisioned for geological disposal, and after several hundred years, the radiotoxicity of disposed nuclear fuel is dominated by actinides [12] .Considering the safety of the public，it is essential to develop modern and safer technologies to incorporate all these nuclear wastes. Therefore, in this paper, we will investigate the feasibility of Gd 2 Zr 2 O 7 used for the disposal of actinides.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase and Microstructure of(Gd1-xNdx)2Zr2O7(0 x 0.35)Compounds

Yi¹,

Fan²,

Lu³

2015

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil, Materials and Environmental Sciences

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Abstract-In order to investigate thecom pounds with the general formula (Gd 1-x Nd x ) 2 Zr 2 O 7 , a series of compositions were fabricated by high temperature solid state reaction at 1500℃ under atmosphere pressure for 72 h.XRD and SEM were exploited to characterize the crystal structure and microstructure of the synthetic samples. The results indicate that all the (Gd 1-x Nd x ) 2 Zr 2 O 7 samples exhibit a single pyrochlore structure. The microstructure of the specimen is relatively dense, and the grain size is in the range of 4-5μm.

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“…They may also be employed as cladding materials for gas-cooled fission reactors and structural components in fusion reactors. For all these applications, there is an urgent need of data concerning the behavior of nuclear ceramics upon irradiation.The topic that is concerned here is so broad that it requires a whole book to cover the main issues; the state of knowledge was regularly upgraded in thorough reviews [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. To deal it in a short article, we focus on the presentation of a few remarkable examples concerning the ion-beam modifications of nuclear ceramics (zirconia, pyrochlores, silicon carbide, etc.)…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Damage Accumulation in Nuclear Ceramics

et al. 2011

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Ceramics are key engineering materials in many industrial domains. The evaluation of radiation damage in ceramics placed in a radiative environment is a challenging problem for electronic, space and nuclear industries. Ion beams delivered by various types of accelerators are very efficient tools to simulate the interactions involved during the slowing-down of energetic particles. This article presents a review of the radiation effects occurring in nuclear ceramics, with an emphasis on new results concerning the damage build-up. Ions with energies in the keV-GeV range are considered for this study in order to explore both regimes of nuclear collisions (at low energy) and electronic excitations (at high energy). The recovery, by electronic excitation, of the damage created by ballistic collisions (swift heavy ion beam induced epitaxial recrystallization process) is also reported. 61.80.Jh, 61.82.Ms, 61.85.+p, 68.37.Lp PACS Introductory remarksCeramics are refractory solids which possess very interesting physico-chemical properties, such as high strength, low thermal expansion, chemical stability, strong resistance against oxidation, good behavior under irradiation, etc. These materials are therefore often employed in hostile media where efficient use of energy is a prime need, e.g. extreme temperatures, corrosive surroundings, radiative environment, etc. Examples of the interest of ceramics for applications are provided by electronic, space and nuclear industries. For instance, such materials are nowadays widely used for surface coating and electronic packaging, and they are envisioned in a near future for the safe and long-term disposal of radioactive waste, and the development of inert fuel matrices for actinide transmutation. They may also be employed as cladding materials for gas-cooled fission reactors and structural components in fusion reactors. For all these applications, there is an urgent need of data concerning the behavior of nuclear ceramics upon irradiation.The topic that is concerned here is so broad that it requires a whole book to cover the main issues; the state of knowledge was regularly upgraded in thorough reviews [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. To deal it in a short article, we focus on the presentation of a few remarkable examples concerning the ion-beam modifications of nuclear ceramics (zirconia, pyrochlores, silicon carbide, etc.) with an emphasis on the mechanisms leading to damage cre- * corresponding author; e-mail: thome@csnsm.in2p3.fr ation and phase transformations. We report typical results obtained using advanced characterization techniques (the Rutherford backscatteringspectrometry associated to channeling (RBS/C), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman) for ceramics irradiated with ions in a broad energy range (from keV to GeV) in order to explore both nuclear collision and electronic excitation regimes.The first section is devoted to the presentation of general considerations about the damage build-up in ion--irradiated crystals and of a new mo...

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Zirconia ceramics for excess weapons plutonium waste

Cited by 176 publications

References 58 publications

THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE versus THE CARBON CYCLE

THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE versus THE CARBON CYCLE

Phase and Microstructure of(Gd1-xNdx)2Zr2O7(0 x 0.35)Compounds

Damage Accumulation in Nuclear Ceramics

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