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NRC to add new items to categorical exclusions list
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has identified five categories of action to add to its list of categorical exclusions to reduce its documentation work under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures.
These revisions are included in the final rule, “Categorical exclusions from environmental review,” which was published in the Federal Register on March 30. The final rule will become effective on April 29.
Bing Hong, Yunqing Bai, Gang Xu, Xiaoliang Zou
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 1 | October 2018 | Pages 66-73
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1464820
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lithium is an attractive coolant for space nuclear reactors due to its good thermal properties and low density. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of coolant 6Li concentration on the neutronic parameters of the lithium-cooled space reactor, with the aim to provide an appropriate reference for the purification of lithium coolant and the safety of the lithium-cooled space reactor. The neutronic calculations based on the lithium-cooled reactor are performed using the SuperMC code with the ENDF/B-VII cross-section database. The effects of coolant 6Li concentration were studied over the range of 0 to 8.5 at. % as well as the corresponding effects on the depletion, helium production, neutron spectrum, and temperature reactivity coefficient. The results show that the 6Li concentration of 0.01 at. % in the lithium coolant is appropriate in the lithium-cooled reactor. In this case, the neutronic parameters including the depletion, helium production, and neutron spectrum showed no obvious change compared to that of the pure 7Li, and the coolant reactivity coefficient has a negative effect on reactivity.