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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Vojtěch Galek, Anna Sears, Petr Pražák, Lucie Karásková-Nenadálová
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 3 | May 2024 | Pages 321-329
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2024.2305996
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, and due to its limited supply and related high price, it is necessary to recover it from tritiated materials via detritiation technologies. The number of tritiated materials arises during fusion. Tritium from fusion reactors is deposited in the outer layer of plasma-facing materials, which must be dealt with during maintenance or decommissioning processes. A second source of waste is laboratory equipment that could be contaminated with tritium.
High-temperature treatment in an oxidation environment can achieve the release of tritium from metals or organic materials. The tritiated vapor is then captured in a series of water bubblers and reprocessed into pure T2. One of the high-temperature methods is molten salt oxidation (MSO), which uses high temperatures, alkaline salt, and an oxidative environment for flameless oxidation of different types of waste.
This work aimed to simulate the detritiation processes of tritiated organic materials in MSO technology. First, a series of experiments with D2O absorbed in ion resins was conducted. The organic waste was decomposed within the molten salt, and the flue gas was measured to determine the oxidation efficiency. The D2O was captured in a series of water bubblers, and the water was then analyzed with attenuated total reflectance (ATR)–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that all deuterium in the form of D2O was caught in the first water bubbler. The capture efficiency ranged from 22.32% to 61.13%. The lower efficiency capture can be explained as D2O in water can form a HDO molecule and its correct determination is problematic.
The second type of experiment was carried out with T2O with an activity of 851 Bq and with tritiated oil with an activity of 2495 Bq. The T2O was added to the set amount of ion resins and dosed into MSO. A peristaltic pump dosed the tritiated oil. The flue gas was measured to determine oxidation efficiency, and the T2O was captured within the water bubblers. The water was analyzed with liquid scintillation spectroscopy. The capture efficiency ranged between 76.42% to 97.87%. The results showed that this technology is suitable for the detritiation of tritiated organic materials.
