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Transmutation of long-lived waste in fast and thermal spectrum reactors
Author:	Zaetta, Alain
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Actinide management is a mission with potential significant societal benefits, initiating the consumption of nuclear waste in the medium-term and providing assurance of nuclear fuel availability in the long-term. The medium-term component of the actinide management mission will enable the build-up of transuranic actinides (neptunium, plutonium, americium, and curium) to be limited or reversed through full recycling of used nuclear fuel. The current world fleet of light water reactors (LWR) generates these transuranics. Full recycling will result in the destruction of the transuranics by separating them and converting them into much shorter-lived or stable isotopes by transmutation through fission. In the process, a large proportion of the long-lived radiotoxic constituents, which would otherwise require isolation in a geologic repository, are destroyed. The purpose of this article is to present some of the conclusions drawn on the scientific feasibility of transmutation, mainly on the basis of neutronic considerations. Basic nuclear cross-sections and neutron physics characteristics are compared in order to assess the performance of long-lived nuclear waste transmutation (Minor Actinides (MAs) and Long-Lived Fission Product (LLFPs)) according to the neutron spectrum, independently of the type of system considered.

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Price:	£21.28 (£21.28 inc.)
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