Accelerator breeder: a viable option for the production of nuclear fuels

Conference · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5964908

Grand, P

Despite the growing pains of the US nuclear power industry, our dependence on nuclear energy for the production of electricity and possibly process heat is likely to increase dramatically over the next few deacades. This statement dismisses fusion as being entirely too speculative to be practical within that time frame. Sometime, between the years 2000 and 2050, fissile material will be in short supply whether it is to fuel existing LWR's or to provide initial fuel inventory for FBR's. The accelerator breeder could produce the fuel shortfall predicted to occur during the first half of the 21st century. The accelerator breeder offers the only practical means today of producing, or breeding, large quantities of fissile fuel from fertile materials, albeit at high cost. Studies performed over the last few years at Chalk River Laboratory and at Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated that the accelerator breeder is practical, technically feasible with state-of-the-art technology, and is economically competitive with any other proposed synthetic means of fissile fuel production. This paper gives the parameters of a nearly optimized accelerator-breeder system, then discusses the development needs, and the economics and institutional problems that this breeding concept faces.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 5964908
• Report Number(s): BNL-33151; CONF-830311-181; ON: DE83014430; TRN: 83-017143
• Resource Relation: Conference: Particle accelerator conference, Santa Fe, NM, USA, 21 Mar 1983; Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ACCELERATOR BREEDERS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
GEV RANGE 01-10
MILLI AMP BEAM CURRENTS
PROTON BEAMS
QUADRUPOLE LINACS
SPECIFICATIONS
TARGETS
ACCELERATORS
BEAM CURRENTS
BEAMS
CURRENTS
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430303* - Particle Accelerators- Experimental Facilities & Equipment