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The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Oklo completes end-to-end demonstration of advanced fuel recycling
Oklo Inc. has announced that it has completed the first end-to-end demonstration of its advanced fuel recycling process as part of an ongoing $5 million project in collaboration with Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories. Oklo’s goal: scaling up its fuel recycling capabilities to deploy a commercial-scale recycling facility that would increase advanced reactor fuel supplies and enhance fuel cost effectiveness for its planned sodium fast reactors.
J. Prij
Nuclear Technology | Volume 113 | Number 1 | January 1996 | Pages 100-109
Technical Note | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35202
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-level radioactive waste (HLW) contains nuclides that present a potential risk for man and the environment for a very long time—up to many thousands of years. Worldwide research activities are directed toward establishing how HLW can be safely disposed in stable geological formations such as rock salt formations. The unusual timescale of the problem has given rise to public and scientific concern about the reliability and the longevity of the proposed solutions. This has led to many suggestions about mechanisms that might provide a pathway for the nuclides to reach the biosphere. Although some of these suggestions are rather far fetched, disregarding them without thorough and scientifically sound argumentation is considered unacceptable. This paper should be viewed in this light. The disposal of HLW in a salt formation will result in the deposit of gamma energy in the rock salt. Most of this energy will be converted into heat while a small part will create defects in the salt crystals. It has been shown that energy is stored in the defected crystals. Because of uncertainties in the models and differences in the disposal concepts, the estimated values for the stored energy range from 10 to 1000 J/g in the most heavily defected crystals close to the waste containers. Given the uncertainties in the model predictions and in the possible release mechanism, this paper concludes that at this moment, an instantaneous release of stored energy cannot be completely excluded. Therefore, the thermomechanical consequences of a postulated instantaneous release of an extremely high amount of radiation-induced stored energy have been estimated. These estimations are based on the quasi-static solutions for line and point sources. An amplification factor has been derived from mining experience with explosives to account for the dynamic effects and the occurrence of fractures. A validation of this amplification factor has been given using postexperimental observations of two nuclear explosions in a salt formation. For some typical disposal concepts in rock salt, the extent of the fractured zone has been estimated. It appears that the radial extent of the fractured zone is limited to 5 m. Given the much larger distance between the individual boreholes and the distance between the boreholes and the boundary of the salt formation (>100 m), one can conclude that the probability of a release of radiation-induced stored energy creating a pathway for the nuclides from the containers to the groundwater is negligible.