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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Graiciany de Paula Barros, Claubia Pereira, Maria A. F. Veloso, Renan Cunha, Antonella L. Costa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 256-261
Fusion-Fission Hybrids and Transmutation | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13429
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Accelerators Driven Systems (ADS) are an innovative type of nuclear system, which is useful for long-lived fission product transmutation and fuel regeneration. The ADS consist of a coupling of a sub-critical nuclear core reactor and a proton beam produced by a particle accelerator. These particles are injected into a target for neutrons production by spallation reactions. The neutrons are then used to maintain the fission chain in the subcritical core.The aim of this study is to investigate the nuclear fuel evolution of a lead cooled accelerator driven system used for energy production and high-level waste transmutation. The fuel studied is a mixture based upon 232Th-233U and Pu-MA extracted from PWR spent. The target is a lead spallation target and the core is filled with a hexagonal lattice. In order to reduce the negative reactivity caused by the presence of protactinium, moderator is not used.In this work is used the Monte Carlo code MCNPX 2.6.0, that presents the depletion/burnup capability, combining a ADS source and kcode-mode. The keff evolution, the neutron energy spectra in the core and the nuclear fuel depletion during the burnup are evaluated. Keywords: ADS, thorium, MCNPX.