The Safe, Economical Operation of a Slightly Subcritical Reactor and Transmuter with a Small Proton Accelerator

Conference · Sun Jan 23 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:10136290

Takahashi, Hiroshi ^[1]

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1. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

This report describes methods in which an accelerator can be used to increase the safety and neutron economy of a power reactor and transmuter of long-lived radioactive wastes, such as minor actinides and fission products, by providing neutrons for its subcritical operation. Instead of the rather large subcriticality of k=0.9-0.95 which we originally proposed for such a transmuter, we propose to use a slightly subcritical reactor, such as k=0.99, which will avoid many of the technical difficulties that are associated with large subcriticality, such as localized power peaking, radiation damage due to the injection of medium-energy protons, the high current accelerator, and the requirement for a long beam-expansion section. We analyzed the power drop that occurred in Phenix reactor and show that the operating this reactor in subcritical condition improves its safety.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 10136290
• Report Number(s): BNL--60095; CONF-940109--3; ON: DE94008993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500
220900
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
430100
ACCELERATORS
ACTINIDES
DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND OPERATION
ECONOMICS
FISSION PRODUCTS
High-Level Radioactivate Waste (HLRW)
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
Long-Lived Fission Products (LLFP)
Minor Actinides (MA)
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Nuclear Fuel Cycle
POWER REACTORS
POWER REACTORS
BREEDING
PRISM
Phenix Reactor
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTIVITY
REACTOR SAFETY
SUBCRITICALITY
TRANSMUTATION
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE