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"Nuclear fuels"
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A new approach to the nuclear fuel cycle : best practices for security, nonproliferation, and sustainable nuclear energy
\"In the past decade, a resurgence of enthusiasm for nuclear power has rekindled interest in efforts to manage the fuel cycle. The 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants in Japan and current proliferation crises in North Korea and Iran raise this question: Is the current approach on the fuel cycle -- leaving uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing capabilities in the hands of national governments -- too risky on proliferation grounds? In early 2011, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Center for Strategic and International Studies launched the New Approaches to the Fuel Cycle (NAFC) project. This project, led by Corey Hinderstein and Sharon Squassoni, sought to build consensus on common goals,address practical challenges, and engage a spectrum of actors who influence nuclear energy policymaking. Drawing from industry, government, and NGO community expertise in the United States and abroad, the NAFC project worked to outline a vision for an integrated approach to nuclear supply and demand. The result, presented in this report, is the first comprehensive approach that contains guidelines for shaping a sustainable nuclear supply system and leverages existing trends in nuclear industry, with 'best practices' to help implement that sustainable system\"--Publisher's web site.
Book
Quality and Reliability Aspects in Nuclear Power Reactor Fuel Engineering
Improved fuel reliability means reduced fuel failures in reactor operation. Fuel failures, with their consequent adverse impact on the environment and requirements for additional waste management, result in costs for remediation, 'failed core' operation and maintenance. Therefore, poor performance of fuel can lead to uncompetitive operational conditions for a nuclear power plant. A revision of the earlier edition, this publication has been significantly extended to support nuclear fuel designers, manufacturers, reactor operators, and fuel engineers and managers on fuel design and design changes, fuel manufacturing, qualification, in-reactor operation, and on-site services to achieve excellence in fuel reliability and performance and safe operation of nuclear fuel under all applicable plant states.
eBook
Radiation-resistant metal-organic framework enables efficient separation of krypton fission gas from spent nuclear fuel
Capture and storage of volatile radionuclides that result from processing of used nuclear fuel is a major challenge. Solid adsorbents, in particular ultra-microporous metal-organic frameworks, could be effective in capturing these volatile radionuclides, including
85
Kr. However, metal-organic frameworks are found to have higher affinity for xenon than for krypton, and have comparable affinity for Kr and N
2
. Also, the adsorbent needs to have high radiation stability. To address these challenges, here we evaluate a series of ultra-microporous metal-organic frameworks, SIFSIX-3-M (M = Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, or Fe) for their capability in
85
Kr separation and storage using a two-bed breakthrough method. These materials were found to have higher Kr/N
2
selectivity than current benchmark materials, which leads to a notable decrease in the nuclear waste volume. The materials were systematically studied for gamma and beta irradiation stability, and SIFSIX-3-Cu is found to be the most radiation resistant.
Management of spent nuclear fuel is challenging due to the release of volatile radionuclides. Here the authors report krypton separation from fission gas in the presence of other competing gases by a radiation resistant metal-organic framework using the two-bed breakthrough technique.
Journal Article
Ultrafiltration separation of Am(VI)-polyoxometalate from lanthanides
Partitioning of americium from lanthanides (Ln) present in used nuclear fuel plays a key role in the sustainable development of nuclear energy
1
–
3
. This task is extremely challenging because thermodynamically stable Am(III) and Ln(III) ions have nearly identical ionic radii and coordination chemistry. Oxidization of Am(III) to Am(VI) produces AmO
2
2+
ions distinct with Ln(III) ions, which has the potential to facilitate separations in principle. However, the rapid reduction of Am(VI) back to Am(III) by radiolysis products and organic reagents required for the traditional separation protocols including solvent and solid extractions hampers practical redox-based separations. Herein, we report a nanoscale polyoxometalate (POM) cluster with a vacancy site compatible with the selective coordination of hexavalent actinides (
238
U,
237
Np,
242
Pu and
243
Am) over trivalent lanthanides in nitric acid media. To our knowledge, this cluster is the most stable Am(VI) species in aqueous media observed so far. Ultrafiltration-based separation of nanoscale Am(VI)-POM clusters from hydrated lanthanide ions by commercially available, fine-pored membranes enables the development of a once-through americium/lanthanide separation strategy that is highly efficient and rapid, does not involve any organic components and requires minimal energy input.
A new strategy to separate radioactive americium from lanthanides based on complexation with polyoxometalates and ultrafiltration technique is highly efficient and rapid, does not involve any organic components and requires minimal energy input.
Journal Article
Nuclear waste from small modular reactors
Small modular reactors (SMRs; i.e., nuclear reactors that produce < 300 MWelec each) have garnered attention because of claims of inherent safety features and reduced cost. However, remarkably few studies have analyzed the management and disposal of their nuclear waste streams. Here, we compare three distinct SMR designs to an 1,100-MWelec pressurized water reactor in terms of the energy-equivalent volume, (radio-)chemistry, decay heat, and fissile isotope composition of (notional) high-, intermediate-, and low-level waste streams. Results reveal that water-, molten salt–, and sodium-cooled SMR designs will increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal by factors of 2 to 30. The excess waste volume is attributed to the use of neutron reflectors and/or of chemically reactive fuels and coolants in SMR designs. That said, volume is not the most important evaluation metric; rather, geologic repository performance is driven by the decay heat power and the (radio-)chemistry of spent nuclear fuel, for which SMRs provide no benefit. SMRs will not reduce the generation of geochemically mobile 129I, 99Tc, and 79Se fission products, which are important dose contributors for most repository designs. In addition, SMR spent fuel will contain relatively high concentrations of fissile nuclides, which will demand novel approaches to evaluating criticality during storage and disposal. Since waste stream properties are influenced by neutron leakage, a basic physical process that is enhanced in small reactor cores, SMRs will exacerbate the challenges of nuclear waste management and disposal.
Journal Article
A Review of Environmental and Economic Implications of Closing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle—Part One: Wastes and Environmental Impacts
Globally, around half a million tonnes of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) will be in dry or wet storage by around 2050. Continued storage is not sustainable, and this SNF must eventually either be disposed (the open nuclear fuel cycle) or recycled (the closed fuel cycle). Many international studies have addressed the advantages and disadvantages of these options. To inform this debate, a detailed survey of the available literature related to environmental assessments of closed and open cycles has been undertaken. Environmental impacts are one of the three pillars that, alongside economic and societal impacts, must be considered for sustainable development. The aims are to provide a critical review of the open literature in order to determine what generic conclusions can be drawn from the broad base of international studies. This review covers the results of life cycle assessments and studies on waste arisings, showing how the management of spent fuels in the open and closed cycles impact the environment, including the use of natural resources, radioactive waste characteristics (heat loading, radiotoxicity and volume) and the size of the geological repository. In the framework of sustainable development, the next part of this review will consider economic impacts.
Journal Article
Metal–organic framework with optimally selective xenon adsorption and separation
Nuclear energy is among the most viable alternatives to our current fossil fuel-based energy economy. The mass deployment of nuclear energy as a low-emissions source requires the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel to recover fissile materials and mitigate radioactive waste. A major concern with reprocessing used nuclear fuel is the release of volatile radionuclides such as xenon and krypton that evolve into reprocessing facility off-gas in parts per million concentrations. The existing technology to remove these radioactive noble gases is a costly cryogenic distillation; alternatively, porous materials such as metal–organic frameworks have demonstrated the ability to selectively adsorb xenon and krypton at ambient conditions. Here we carry out a high-throughput computational screening of large databases of metal–organic frameworks and identify SBMOF-1 as the most selective for xenon. We affirm this prediction and report that SBMOF-1 exhibits by far the highest reported xenon adsorption capacity and a remarkable Xe/Kr selectivity under conditions pertinent to nuclear fuel reprocessing.
Increased nuclear energy usage requires the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel to recover radioactive waste, including xenon. Here, the authors perform high-throughput computational screening to identify a metal-organic framework with high xenon selectivity, and demonstrate this with performance analysis.
Journal Article
An innovative way of thinking nuclear waste management – Neutron physics of a reactor directly operating on SNF
A solution for the nuclear waste problem is the key challenge for an extensive use of nuclear reactors as a major carbon free, sustainable, and applied highly reliable energy source. Partitioning and Transmutation (P&T) promises a solution for improved waste management. Current strategies rely on systems designed in the 60's for the massive production of plutonium. We propose an innovative strategic development plan based on invention and innovation described with the concept of developments in s-curves identifying the current boundary conditions, and the evolvable objectives. This leads to the ultimate, universal vision for energy production characterized by minimal use of resources and production of waste, while being economically affordable and safe, secure and reliable in operation. This vision is transformed into a mission for a disruptive development of the future nuclear energy system operated by burning of existing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) without prior reprocessing. This highly innovative approach fulfils the sustainability goals and creates new options for P&T. A proof on the feasibility from neutronic point of view is given demonstrating sufficient breeding of fissile material from the inserted SNF. The system does neither require new resources nor produce additional waste, thus it provides a highly sustainable option for a future nuclear system fulfilling the requests of P&T as side effect. In addition, this nuclear system provides enhanced resistance against misuse of Pu and a significantly reduced fuel cycle. However, the new system requires a demand driven rethinking of the separation process to be efficient.
Journal Article