Transmutation of massive loadings of $sup 137$Cs in the blanket of a controlled thermonuclear reactor
From joint meeting of the American Nuclear Society and the Atomic lndustrial Forum and Nuclear Energy Exhibition; San Francisco, California, USA (11 Nov 1973). Calculations have been performed that indicate the possibility of reducing below ten years the effective half-life for transmutation of massive loadings of /sup 137/Cs placed in a CTR blanket. The blanket studied is a modification of the cylindrical standard blanket'' calculational benchmark, having 1 cm of Nb wall material followed by a 20 cm target zone, 70 cm of moderator and a 6 cm absorber of Li. The standard blanket'' source yielding a wall loading of 10 MW/m/sup 2/ of 14 MeV neutrons is assumed. Neutron production by (n,2n) reactions in a Be moderator is used to increase the thermal flux. For an 80% target zone loading of /sup 137/Cs, a transmutation rate of 290 kg per year per meter of CTR length is obtained, with a half-life (including radioactive decay) of 9.9 years. At this loading, the transmutation rate is roughly one percent of the length of a CTR blanket would balance the production rate in a fission reactor of the same power. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, Wash. (USA)
- NSA Number:
- NSA-29-001903
- OSTI ID:
- 4428794
- Report Number(s):
- BNWL-SA--4773; CONF-731101--6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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