The influence of external source intensity in accelerator/target/blanket system on conversion ratio and fuel cycle [electronic resource]

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Bibliographic Details
Online Access: Online Access (via OSTI)
Corporate Author: Los Alamos National Laboratory (Researcher)
Format: Government Document Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Los Alamos, N.M. : Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Los Alamos National Laboratory ; distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy, 1995.
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Description
Abstract:The analysis of neutron balance relation for a subcritical system with external source shows that a high ratio of neutron utilization (conversion ratio, breeding ratio) much exceeding similar values for nuclear reactors (both thermal or fast spectrum) is reachable in accelerator/target/blanket system with high external neutron source intensity. An accelerator/target/blanket systems with thermal power in blanket about 1850 Mwt and operating during 30 years have been investigated. Continual feed up by plutonium (fissile material) and Tc-99 (transmuted material) was assumed. Accelerator beam intensity differed 6.3 times (16 mA - Case 1, and 100 mA-Case 2). Conversion ratio (CR) was defined as the ratio of Tc-99 nuclei transmuted to the number of Pu nuclei consumed. High value of conversion ratio considerably exceeding 1 (CR=1.66) was obtained in the system with high source intensity as compared with low source system (CR=0.77). Net output of electric power of high source intensity system is about twice lower due to consumption of electric power for accelerator feed up. The loss of energy for Tc-99 transmutation is estimated as 40 Mev(el)/nuclei. Yet high conversion ratio (or breeding ratio) achievable in electronuclear installations with high intensity of external source can effectively be used to close fuel cycle (including incineration of wastes) or to develop growing nuclear power production system.
Item Description:Published through SciTech Connect.
10/01/1995.
"la-ur--95-1792"
" conf-9407103--"
"DE95014018"
346 ISSN 0094-243X.
International conference on accelerator-driven transmutation technologies and applications, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 25 Jul - 1 Aug 1994.
Kochurov, B.P. [Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russian Federation)]
Physical Description:pp. 776-782 : digital, PDF file.