Cross Sections for Actinide Burner Reactors
Cross Sections for Actinide Burner Reactors

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Published: 1991

Total Pages: 4

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Recent studies have shown the feasibility of burning higher actinides (i.e., transuranium (TRU) elements excluding plutonium) in ad hoc designed reactors (Actinide Burner Reactors: ABR) which, because of their hard neutron spectra, enhance the fission of TRU. The transmutation of long-lived radionuclides into stable or short-lived isotopes reduces considerably the burden of handling high-level waste from either LWR or Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) fuels. Because of the large concentrations of higher actinides in these novel reactor designs the Doppler effect due to TRU materials is the most important temperature coefficient from the point of view of reactor safety. Here we report calculations of energy group-averaged capture and fission cross sections as function of temperature and dilution for higher actinides in the resolved and unresolved resonance regions. The calculations were done with the codes SAMMY in the resolved region and URR in the unresolved regions and compared with an independent calculation. 4 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.

MINING INTEGRAL ACTINIDES CROSS SECTIONS FROM REACTOR DATA.
MINING INTEGRAL ACTINIDES CROSS SECTIONS FROM REACTOR DATA.

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Published: 2009

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The conclusions of this paper are: (1) mining of actinide cross-sections from reactor data is a viable and inexpensive approach to confirm burn-up codes; (2) extensive data for actinides in Hanford test data ((almost equal to) 200 radiochemical analyses); (3) not only cross-section values and reaction rates can be established but also possible benchmark like data can be constructed to test and validate reactor and criticality safety codes such as SCALE/KENO or MCNPX; and (4) analysis along multiple transmutation paths can be evaluated to show consistency.

Actinide Cross Section Program at ORELA.
Actinide Cross Section Program at ORELA.

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Published: 1980

Total Pages:

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The actinide cross section program at ORELA, the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator, is aimed at obtaining accurate neutron cross sections (primarily fission, capture, and total) for actinide nuclides which occur in fission reactors. Such cross sections, measured as a function of neutron energy over as wide a range of energies as feasible, comprise a data base that permits calculated predictions of the formation and removal of these nuclides in reactors. The present program is funded by the Division of Basic Energy Sciences of DOE, and has components in several divisions at ORNL. For intensively .cap alpha.-active nuclides, many of the existing fission cross section data have been provided by underground explosions. New measurement techniques, developed at ORELA, now permit linac measurements on fissionable nuclides with alpha half-lives as short as 28 years. Capture and capture-plus-fission measurements utilize scintillation detectors (of capture .gamma. rays and fission neutrons) in which pulse shape discrimination plays an important role. Total cross sections can be measured at ORELA on samples of only a few milligrams. A simultaneous program of chemical and isotopic analyses of samples irradiated in EBR-II is in progress to provide benchmarks for the existing differential measurements. These analyses are being studied with updated versions of ORIGEN and with sensitivity determinations. Calculations of the sensitivity to cross section changes of various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle are also being made. Even in this relatively mature field, many cross sections still require improvements to provide an adequate data base. Examples of recent techniques and measurements are presented. 12 figures, 3 tables.