The application of thermal-spectrum molten-salt reactors and accelerator-driven subcritical systems to the destruction of weapons-return plutonium is considered from the perspective of deriving the maximum societal benefit. The enhancement of electric power production from burning the fertile fuel 232Th with the plutonium is evaluated. Also the enhancement of destruction of the accumulated waste from commercial nuclear reactors is considered using the neutron-rich weapons plutonium. Most cases examined include the concurrent transmutation of the long-lived actinide and fission product waste (99Tc, 129I, 135Cs, 126Sn and 79Se).
Long-lived radioactive materials from the operation of nuclear power plants and from the maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear weapons pose environmental and security risks. Technologies that would counter such risks are under intense study worldwide. One such technology, transmutation by nuclear means into shorter-lived materials, was the subject of an international workshop in Russia, where the need for a viable solution of this problem is particularly strong.Current problems of that technology and future perspectives and cooperative research possibilities involving Russian and East European facilities are discussed by scientists from Russia, the United States and seven other countries representing basic research institutes, former nuclear weapons laboratories and nuclear industries. Computer modeling, data bases and experimental investigations needed for the conceptualization of demonstration, prototype and production facilities are treated in detail. Progress on the planning and construction of the first demonstration facilities is also described.From these proceedings it becomes evident that the problems inherent in radioactive waste accumulation can be solved only by international cooperation in which conventional methods are supplemented by new technologies, and that such a solution may require a sustained effort comparable to the Manhattan Project and the analogous project in the former USSR at the beginning of the nuclear era.
In preparation for and in support of a detailed R and D Plan for the Accelerator-Based Conversion (ABC) of weapons plutonium, an ABC Plant Layout Study was conducted at the level of a pre-conceptual engineering design. The plant layout is based on an adaptation of the Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR) detailed conceptual design that was completed in the early 1070s. Although the ABC Plant Layout Study included the Accelerator Equipment as an essential element, the engineering assessment focused primarily on the Target; Primary System (blanket and all systems containing plutonium-bearing fuel salt); the Heat-Removal System (secondary-coolant-salt and supercritical-steam systems); Chemical Processing; Operation and Maintenance; Containment and Safety; and Instrumentation and Control systems. Although constrained primarily to a reflection of an accelerator-driven (subcritical) variant of MSBR system, unique features and added flexibilities of the ABC suggest improved or alternative approaches to each of the above-listed subsystems; these, along with the key technical issues in need of resolution through a detailed R & D plan for ABC are described on the bases of the ''strawman'' or ''point-of-departure'' plant layout that resulted from this study.
Within the next decade, many thousands of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons are slated to be retired as a result of nuclear arms reduction treaties and unilateral pledges. Hundreds of tons of plutonium and highly enriched uranium will no longer be needed for weapons purposes and will pose urgent challenges to international security. This is the supporting volume to a study by the Committee on International Security and Arms Control which dealt with all phases of the management and disposition of these materials. This technical study concentrates on the option for the disposition of plutonium, looking in detail at the different types of reactors in which weapons plutonium could be burned and at the vitrification of plutonium, and comparing them using economic, security and environmental criteria.
Das Projekt will mit einem jährlich wiederkehrenden Anlass bzw. Tag die Alkoholprävention unterstützen. Es werden jeweils an einem bestimmten Datum im November von verschiedenen Organisationen zahlreiche Aktivitäten durchgeführt (z.B. Pressemitteilungen, Saftbar, Fahrsimulator usw.).
An accelerator-based conversion (ABC) system is presented that is capable of rapidly burning plutonium in a low-inventory sub-critical system. The system also returns fission power to the grid and transmutes troublesome long-lived fission products to short lived or stable products. Higher actinides are totally fissioned. The system is suited not only to controlled, rapid burning of excess weapons plutonium, but to the long range application of eliminating or drastically reducing the world total inventory of plutonium. Deployment of the system will require the successful resolution of a broad range of technical issues introduced in the paper.
