The Heatpipe Power System (HI%) is a near-te~ low-cost, space fission power system that has been under development at Los Alamos National Laborato~ (LANL) for 5 years. The goal of the HPS project is to devise an attractive space fission system that can be developed quickly and affordably. The primary ways of doing this are by using existing technology and by designing the system for inexpensive...

This paper presents the verification and validation (V&V) of a calculation module for isotope inventory prediction to control back-end cycle spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The method presented herein was implemented in two-step code system lattice STREAM nodal diffusion RAST-K. generates cross section provides number density information using branch/history depletion branch calculations, whereas RAS...

The aim of this study is to examine a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power generation system for the space applications using a nuclear fission reactor as the heat source. This MHD system uses He/Xe mixed gas as coolant instead of alkali-metal-seeded inert gas. The interrelation between the specific heat of the coolant and the mass flow rate was examined. When the specific heat decreases due to incr...

Challenges of managing long-living spent nuclear fuel wastes are to be technically overcome by a partitioning and transmutation system named as PEACER that is an abbreviation of its design goals: Proliferation-resistant, Environment-friendly, Accident-tolerant, Continuable and Economical Reactor. PEACER has been developed to manage spent nuclear fuels by uniquely combining Pb-Bi cooled critical...

The feasibility of a new approach of laser fusion in plasma without implosion has been proposed and is discussed using an intense laser. The cross section of the nuclear reaction is increased by enhancing the penetrability of nuclei through the Coulomb barrier. In this approach, an intense laser field of more than 100 PW was required to distort the Coulomb barrier to obtain enough penetrability...

This work presents an extensive study on Monte Carlo radiation transport simulation and thermoluminescent (TL) dosimetry for characterising mixed radiation fields (neutrons and photons) occurring in nuclear reactors. The feasibility of these methods is investigated for radiation fields at various locations of the Portuguese Research Reactor (RPI). The performance of the approaches developed in ...

This paper analyzes the power loss of magnetically controlled reactor based on the basic theory of the electromagnetic field. In a variety of magnetic valve structure model as the object, physical simulation models of the reactor are built. Using Ansoft Maxwell simulation software, various magnetic valve structures of the reactor are studied by the analysis of the magnetic valve type reactor co...

Defects such as the most stable hexavacancy (V6) distribute widely on neutron-irradiated graphite surfaces, which play a dominant role in immobilizing radioactive products released from nuclear fuels. By performing DFT calculations, we explore the interaction of gaseous uranium dicarbide (UC2) molecules on a graphene nanosheet with a V6 defect, in order to investigate the behavior of the repres...

Gas-lift enhanced natural circulation of alkali and heavy liquid metals is a desirable option for passive cooling advanced large, small, micro nuclear reactors, accelerator driven systems, thermal solar plants, experimental facilities test loops. The injected inert gas into the riser or chimney above reactor core needs to be in bubbly flow regime best performance. Gas-heavy maps are developed b...