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The Actual Problems of Microworld Physics Gomel, Belarus, July 22 - August 2, 2013

The Actual Problems of Microworld Physics Gomel, Belarus, July 22 - August 2, 2013. The new electro-nuclear method and scheme of energy production and transmutation of radioactive waste components of nuclear power. S.Tyutyunnikov Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna , Russia.

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The Actual Problems of Microworld Physics Gomel, Belarus, July 22 - August 2, 2013

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  1. The Actual Problems of Microworld Physics Gomel, Belarus, July 22 - August 2, 2013 The new electro-nuclear method and scheme of energy production and transmutation of radioactive waste components of nuclear power S.Tyutyunnikov Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia

  2. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia; CPTP «Atomenergomash», Moscow, Russia; INP,ReznearPraha, CzechRepublic; IAE,SwierknearWarzhawa, Poland; JIENRSosnynearMinsk, Belarus; StepanovIP, Minsk, Belarus KIPT, Kharkov, Ukraine; INRNE, Sofiaя, Bulgaria; ESU, Erevan, Armenia; Uni-Sydney, Sydney, Australia; AristoteleUni-Saloniki, Tessaloniki, Greece; IPT, Almaty, Kazahstan; IPT, Ulanbaatar, Mongolia; INSVinca, Belgrad, Serbia BhabhaARC,Mumbai, India; GesellschaftforKernspektrometrie,Gemany; LeipunskyIPPE, Obninsk, Russia FZJ, Julich, Germany PolytechnicInstitute, Praha, CzechRepublic; DubnaUniversity, Dubna, Russia; IARAS, Kishinev, Moldova; UzhNU, Uzhgorod, Ukraine. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  3. Workshop Collaboration “E + T RAW” (“Energy plus Transmutation of Radioactive Wastes”) 2011, November Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  4. Content • Basic principles of classical nuclear energy • Traditional nuclear fission • ADS technology, the principles, achievements and prospects • The physical basis of relativistic nuclear energy and the experimental results • Conclusion Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  5. Introduction • Stocks explored oil and gas provide energy fuel for 30-50 years. • Explored reserves of coal - for 200-300 years. • The share of nuclear energy in overall energy balance of the Earth - 6%. • Classical nuclear power, founded on the division of U235, Pb239 has several problems: • Limited stocks of fissile material - at 20-50 years. • Continuous operating time of nuclear waste. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  6. Traditional nuclear fission ● Nuclear energy is produced whenever a light nucleus is undergoing fusion or a heavy nucleus is undergoing fission. ● Today’s nuclear energy is based on U-235, 0.71 % of the natural Uranium, fissionable both with thermal and with fast neutrons. ● At the present consumption rate (≈6% of primary energy), U reserves are about comparable with those of Oil and NG. ● In the Sixties, ”Atoms for Peace” had promised cheap, abundant and universally available nuclear power, where the few “nuclear” countries would ensure the necessary know-how to the many others which had renounced nuclear weaponry. ● Today, the situation is far from being universally acceptable: the link between peaceful and military applications has been shortened by the inevitable developments and the corresponding widening of the know-how of nuclear technologies. ● For nuclear energy to become freely and more abundantly available in all countries, some totally different but adequate nuclear technology must be developed. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  7. New, virtually unlimited forms of nuclear energy ● Particularly interesting are fission reactions in which a natural element is firstly bred into a readily fissionable element. Energy Amplifier Gen-IV ● The main advantage of these reactions without U-235 is that they may offer an essentially unlimited energy supply, during millennia at the present primary energy level, quite comparable to the one of Lithium driven D-T Nuclear Fusion. ● However, they require substantial developments since : ➩two neutrons (rather than one) are necessary to close the main cycle ➩the daughter elements (U-233 and/or Pu-239) do not exist in nature but they can be generated after initiation Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  8. • The problems of rapidly growing energy consumption in the world can not be solved without the use of nuclear energy. • The key issue here is the availability of an adequate supply of nuclear fuel. In the long term aspect, the use of such materials as enriched 235U or artificial 239Pu can not solve the problem of global energy. • Indeed, they receive is very energy intensive, and the total value is rather limited and certainly does not exceed the forecast amount of hydrocarbon fuel. • So only involvement in the production of energy is practically unlimited reserves of natural (depleted) uranium and thorium can provide long-term prospects for nuclear energy. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  9. Structure of an irradiated PWR fuel element PWR fuel element = 500 kg U before Irradiation ValuableMaterials HLWaste Uranium : 475 kg (95 %) Plutonium: 5 kg ( 1 %) Fission Products: 20 kg (4 %) Minor Actinides : ~ 500g (0.1 %) Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  10. The unresolved problem of disposing of spent nuclear fuel, containing the accumulated long-lived radioactive fission products and minor actinides - a major obstacle for the development of conventional nuclear power. To date, spent fuel assemblies (FAs) containing spent nuclear fuel, are not subject to processing, but simply placed in the complex-site storage of existing nuclear power plants, awaiting the development of effective technologies for processing and creation of appropriate capacity. The main way of reducing the activity is implemented simply by their long exposure. Loading VVER-1000 is ~ 80 t UO2 (~ 70 tons of uranium). Over 60 years of operation one unit will be unloaded ~ 1600 tons of SNF, containing a total of ~ 16.6 tons of transuranic elements, of which ~ 16.0 tones - the plutonium isotopes . With today's technology in the processing of 1 ton of spent nuclear fuel (about 0.1 m3) produced ~ 45 m3 of liquid high level radioactive waste, about 150 m3 of medium-and low-level ~ 2000 m3. In the closed nuclear fuel cycle (not yet implemented) is expected education annually as a result of processing up to 25 m3/GW high-level waste, intermediate level and 50-100 m3/GW 700 m3/GWlow-level waste. The repository is Yucca Mountain (USA), capacity 70 000 tons of spent nuclear fuel has been allocated ~ 96.2 billion. I.e. cost of SNF is ~ 1374 $/kg only capital costs, not including transportation and maintenance. The cost of fuel loading in three years, the VVER-1000 ~ 94 million, or ~1175$/kg. Thus, the SNF is considerably more expensive than fresh fuel. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  11. Radiotoxicity √ Direct disposal of the over all nuclear wastes Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  12. Radiotoxicity √ Separation and transmutation of 99.9% of Pu and U Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  13. Radiotoxicity √ Separation and transmutation of 99.9% of Pu, U and MA √ Achievement: Disposal times are shifted from geological to historical time scales in nuclear waste disposal. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  14. Transmutation with present technology Fast Reactors LWR Reactors Innovative Concepts Innovative Gene IV Reactors Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  15. Fundamental, ineradicable weaknesses of today's nuclear energy technologies: 1) use as nuclear fuel, fissile materials– 235U, in the long term 239Puand233U; 2) work with fission spectrum neutrons (average energy spectrum - 2MeV, the maximum - 10 MeV); and as a result, work on the basis of a controlled fission chain reaction. Consequence Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  16. Consequence 4 ineradicable in today's nuclear energy technology issues: theoretical possibility of a critical accident; 1 use of working hours and "bomb" material - the actinides, i.e., problem of non-proliferation; 2 3 continuous operating time of long-lived radioactive waste; resulting from the first three – the problem of withdrawal power blocks of modern nuclear power plants 4 Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  17. ADS - technology • The physical aspects of electro-nuclear energy production method are actively studied today in many scientific centers all over the world: USA, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Russia, Belarus, China, India etc. Most activities are concentrated on the classical electro-nuclear systems – Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) – based on spallation neutron generation, with a spectrum harder than that of fission neutrons, by protons with an energy of about 1 GeV in a high-Z target. These neutrons can also be used for generating nuclear energy in the active zone having criticality of 0,94-0,98 and surrounding the target. • The large national projects devoted to the creation of industrial ADS demonstration prototypes are implemented in Japan (JPARC), USA (RACE), the joint European project EUROTRNS is carried out. • The main advantage of electro-nuclear technology, as compared to conventional reactor technologies, is that subcritical active core and external neutron source (accelerator and neutron-producing target) are used. This advantage doesn’t provides only intrinsic safety of the system but also makes it possible to obtain high fluxes of high energy neutrons independent of fission neutrons of the subcritical assembly material. The high-energy neutrons are an ideal tool to induce fission in most trans-uranium isotopes and thus transmute most of the dangerous radioactive waste from nuclear power production and other sources. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  18. Accelerator Driven Systems Proton (Linear) Accelerator E ~ 1 GeV, I ~ 15-100 mA Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  19. Critical (reactor) and sub-critical (energy amplifier) operation Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  20. The need for a new concept: an Accelerator driven system ● This very small neutron excess is essentially incompatible with the requirements of any critical reactor without U-235. An external neutron source must be added to ensure the neutron inventory balance. This is both true for Fission (Thand/or Depleted U) and D-T Fusion starting from Lithium. ● The development of modern accelerators has permitted the production of a substantial neutron flux with the help of a proton driven high energy spallation source. ● Let Keff be the neutron multiplication coefficient of an ADS (Keff=1 for a critical reactor). In a “sub-critical” mode, Keff<1 neutrons are produced by a spallation driven proton beam source and multiplied by fissions. The nuclear power is then directly proportional to the proton beam power with a gain G: G = χ≈2.1.÷ 2.4for Pb- p coll. > 0.5 GeV G = 70-80 for Keff=0.97 and G = 700-800 for Keff= 0.997 (very large) Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  21. Problems of natural uranium and thorium use • But in this experiment the massive uranium target ( ~3.5 tones) was embedded into light water moderator. As consequence the neutron spectrum inside of active core was practically fully thermalized and neutron multiplicity coefficient Keff this system was near 0.9. • In these circumstances in spite of rather promising GBP~30 it is difficult to implement "burning" of the base core material (natural uranium or thorium) because of their high fission threshold. • And actually proposed EA options must move on to the enriched fuel!? Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  22. SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEUTRON FLUX Neutron flux distribution (arbitrary units) Distance from the source (mm) Comparison of the neutron flux distribution between measured data and Monte Carlo calculations carried out in the "source mode" with EAMC and MCNP-4B, and in the "reactor mode" with MCNP-4B. Spatial distribution of the neutron flux depending on the value of k. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  23. Main result of the FEAT experiment (S. Andriamonje et al.,CERN/AT/94-45(ET)) Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  24. A prolific neutron source: the proton spallation in a heavy Z • Modern proton accelerators on a heavy Z target (Lead) produce a very large number of neutrons. • For a proton energy of 1 GeV and 1.5 GWatt thermal power we need: • ➩2.7 1020 fission/s (Keff= 0.997, G=700 ) • ➩3.8 1017 spallation neutrons/s (30 n/p) • ➩1.3 1016 protons/s • ➩Current: 2.12 mA • Compare: PSI proton cyclotron: • 590 MeV, • 72 MeVinjection 2mA, • 1 MWatt Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  25. Accelerator requirements and reliability ● The spallation target is the most innovative element of the Energy Amplifier. ● High currents are within the possibilities of modern accelerators, either Cyclotrons or superconducting LINACs. ● Reliability is the most important new aspect of an otherwise within the state of the art realization. ● It should be easily achieved through redundancy of the separate components: no more than few beam trips per year Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013 Cyclotron

  26. Principle of operation of the Energy Amplifier • ● The process is based on two steps: • ➩Non fissile Thorium is transformed into fissile U-233 with the help of a first neutron: • ➩Fissile U-233 is fissioned by a second neutron, with large energy production the emission of 2.3 new additional neutrons which continue the process. • ● A particle accelerator is supplying the missing neutron fraction and it controls the energy produced in the reaction. • ● At the end of a cycle the fuel is reprocessed and the only waste are Fission Fragments Their radio-activity is intense, but limited to some hundred years. • ● Actinides are recovered without separation and are the “seeds” of the next load, added to fresh Thorium. • ●The cycle is “closed” in the sense that the only material inflow is the natural element and the only “outflow” are Fission Fragments. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  27. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  28. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  29. Motivation of RNT (relativistic nuclear technology) • ADS is considered now as tool for the transmutation of the long-lived components of radioactive wastes (RAW) and in principle for the solution of globalenergyproblems. • This work is aimed at study of the physicals properties of the ADS with quasi-infinite size active core (AC) from natural uranium irradiates by the pulsed p/d beam of (1-10) GeV energy. • The long-range goal is the study of the possibilities of such systems with maximally hard neutron spectrum inside of AC to realize so called Relativistic Nuclear Technology (RNT) for transmutation RAW and energy production due to burning of AC material. • Important aim of the experimental program is to provide comprehensive benchmark data set for verification and adjustment of INC models and transport codes. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  30. Physical basis of relativistic nuclear technology Physical substantiation for investigation of new schemes of electronuclear power production and transmutation of long-lived radioactive wastes based on nuclear relativistic technologies is presented. “E + T RAW” (“Energy plus Transmutation of Radioactive Wastes”) is aimed at complex study of interaction of relativistic beams of Nuclotron-M with energies up to 10 GeV in quasi-infinite targets. Feasibility of application of natural/depleted uranium or thorium without the use of uranium-235, as well as utilization of spent fuel elements of atomic power plants is demonstrated based on analysis of results of known experiments, numerical, and theoretical works. “E + T RAW” project will provide fundamentally new data and numerical methods necessary for design of demonstration experimental-industrial setups based on the proposed scheme. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  31. Physical basis of relativistic nuclear technology Energy characteristics of neutron radiation leaving a limited Ø20×60 cm lead target depending on protons energy (obtained in the complex experimental group V.I .Yurevich, executed in LHEP) Here, < Е > is the average neutron energy, Еkin is the total kinetic energy of neutron radiation, Еp is the proton energy, and W is the energy of the proton beam spent for neutron production. It can be seen from Table 2 that the average neutron energy, the kinetic neutron energy Еkin, and the proton beam energy W spent for neutron production increase with increasing beam energy. The fraction of primary proton energy spent for neutron production for a proton energy of ~ 660 MeV is ~ 20 % according to our estimates of data [4]. It follows from [10] that for Еp ≈ 1 GeV it increases to 38,2%, reaching almost 46 % for 3,65 GeV. The extrapolation of this dependence to Еp = 10 GeV results in the following estimate of this fraction:  60% (see [11] for details). Note that the growth of the ratio W/Еp is to a large extent connected with the growth of meson production with increasing incident proton energy. Estimates power amplification coefficient for proton beam incident on quasi-infinite target from metallic natural uranium. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  32. Gain power factor in the RNT - scheme Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  33. Physical basis of relativistic nuclear technology The results of the estimates and the experiments show that in the scheme NRT we have the opportunity to carry out with a hard neutron spectrum, having a large enough component of the far abroad fission spectrum throughout its life cycle. Hardneutronspectrum inthevolumeofactivezoneRAW-systemensuresefficienttreatmentallthresholdofactinides. Moreover, for all treatmentactinides there is shift of the elemental composition of the fission fragments of nuclei in the isobaric chains in the direction of short-lived or stable neutron-deficient nuclei. For example, instead of generation a long-lived 129I, formed stable isotope 129Xe. In addition, this spectrum provides an intensive course of reactions of type (n, xn), which leads to a shift of the integral of the fission products in the direction of short-lived neutron-deficient nuclei. For example, as a result of reactions (n, 2n), (n, 3n) one of the most dangerous isotopes from the spent fuel - a long-lived 90Sr - processed (transmuted) in the short-lived 89Sr or stable 88Sr. Finally, the tightening of the neutron spectrum leads to an additional suppression of the neutron capture reaction and significantly reduced operating time more long-lived radioactive materials. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  34. Existing facility of Nuclotron M E&T Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  35. The main parameters of Nuclotron-M Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  36. Deuterons beam parameters.March 2012 Track density distribution by E= 1 GeV March 2012 Itot=1.9·1013 Track density distribution by E= 8 GeV March 2012 Itot=3.7·1012 Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  37. The setup "Quinta" on the irradiation position (December 2011 - March 2013) Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  38. Nuclotron session in November-December 2012 Professor I. Zhuk Professor A. Baldin Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  39. In the framework of the project the following tasks were accomplished: • Construction of “Quinta” complex on the base of natural uranium. • Three systems of entering beam monitoring were developed – • Two systems are based on wire and proportional chambers with wide dynamic range and high spatial resolution. • Method of absolute monitoring is based on Al and Cu activation taking into consideration different measurement modes. • In collaboration with the Radium Institute of the RAS the method of TPC detectors for neutron flow study in wide region of spectrum was mastered. • The method of planar silicon detectors for neutron flow measurement was elaborated. • Prerequisites for the transition to quasi infinite target “Buran” were created. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  40. General view of the beam monitoring systems Since the aim of the experiments was to measure the absolute yield of the reactions under study it was required to create secure interchangeable systems of beam intensity monitoring. Some of the held measurements required knowledge of time structure of each pulse of accelerator and beam intensity variation during the session of irradiation. Therefore, besides commonly used methods of off-line monitoring integral number of deuterons incident on the target, it was necessary to develop on-line systems providing control of shape, intensity and time dependence of accelerator pulses. Being proposed to operate at considerable variation of beam intensity such a system should have wide dynamic range (105÷1012 ion/sec) and high (± 0,2 mm) precision of beam positioning on the target. For this purpose there were developed and successfully tested in experiments two independently operating position-sensitive ionization chambers, operating in required dynamic range. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  41. Results of the measurement of intensity, shape and position of beam incident on the target with use of two monitoring systems. Relative accuracy of ±5% in intensity was achieved for the systems of beam diagnostics. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  42. The main measurements of nuclear-physical parameters of set-up "Quinta" • Measuring the hardness of the neutron spectrum using ofTFBC-detector • The measurements of the neutron spectrum using the activation technique • The measurements of neutron leakage from the set-up “Quinta” by passive silicon detectors and scintillation detector DEMON Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  43. TFBC monitor of neutron or proton fluxes The principle of detection is based on an electrical breakdown caused by a fission fragment that passes through a thin silicon dioxide layer. The breakdown is followed by explosive vaporization of a small part of the silicon dioxide layer and the metal electrode area. The breakdowns are non-shorting, i.e., they leave no permanent conducting path between the electrode and the silicon base. Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  44. FISSION CROSS SECTIONS Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  45. ELECTRONICS AND DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AT VESUVIO Direct signals from an n-type TFBC at 50 Ohm (upper line) and after amplification by a fast linear amplifier Phillips Scientific 776 (lower line) A direct signal from a p-type TFBC at 50 Ohm (upper line) and the corresponding NIM signal after a discriminator LeCroy 4608 (lower line) Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  46. Sensitivity of natU/209Bi ratio to high energy end of neutron spectrum Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  47. Location TFBC and passive detectors along the perimeter of “Quinta” Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  48. Ratios of natU/209Bi (n,f)-reaction rates( black– inside of TA QUINTA, red – on the surface) Energy spectrum of leakage neutrons becomes more “harder” with increase of deuteron energy ! Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  49. ExperimentaldataontherelationshipnatU (n,f) / 209Bi (n,f) (TPS) onthesurfaceoftheleadassembly. (Thedistancestopositions 1-2 aremeasuredfromthebeamaxis, forpositions 3-7 (and 11-12) alongtheQuinta - fromthecornersoftheassembly, forpositions 8-10 fromthebeamaxis) Gomel, July 22 - August 2, 2013

  50. The ratio of number of fission natU(n.f) / 209Bi(n,f) along the side of Quinta(data for 0.66 GeV/A and 4 GeV/A is not displayed, but the trend - the same) natU (nf) / 209Bi (n, f)Group A. Smirnov (Radium Institute)

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