Partitioning and transmutation (P&T) aims at making nuclear energy more sustainable from the viewpoint of the back-end of the fuel cycle by minimising the high-level waste with respect to its mass, radiotoxicity and (possibly) repository risk. P&T mainly deals with the management – i.e. transmutation and/or special conditioning and confinement – of minor actinides and fission products, but invo...

The use of a lead slowing-down spectrometer (LSDS) is considered as a possible option for nondestructive assay of fissile material of used nuclear fuel. The primary objective is to quantify fissile isotopes, particularly 239Pu and 235U, via a direct measurement distinguishing them through their characteristic fission spectra in the LSDS. In this paper, we present several assay measurements perf...

Efficient burnup of minor actinides is one of the most promising alternatives for minimizing waste in advanced nuclear fuel cycles. This work examines the concept of employing a Z-pinch driven fusion source in a sub-critical transmutation reactor designed to burn up actinides and generate constant power. Its fuel cycle is designed to allow on-line fission product removal and fuel replenishment....

CANDLE (Constant Axial shape of Neutron flux, nuclide number densities and power shape During Life of Energy producing reactor) reactors have been intensively researched in the last decades [1–6]. Research shows that this kind of reactor is highly economical, safe and efficiently saves resources, thus extending large scale fission nuclear energy utilization for thousands of years, benefitting t...

Since its discovery 75 years ago fission has been at the forefront of nuclear science and engineering research. Although the fission process is being used worldwide to generate safe reliable power, there are several aspects of the fission process which are still not well known. One such parameter of the fission process is the prompt fission neutron spectrum (PFNS). Although the average number o...

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) concept includes a sodium-cooled fast reactor collocated with an integrated pyroprocess fuel recycling facility. The pyrochemical processes and the inert atmosphere of the heavily shielded fuel cycle facility provide inherent proliferation-resistant features for this advanced technology. The reactor can be designed to operate with a number of different conversion...

The Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) is a nuclear reactor concept under development in the framework of H2020-Euratom project SAMOSAFER. Given its peculiar characteristics as circulating-fuel reactor, new simulation tools need to be developed and tested for study. In this work, multiphysics solver previously OpenFOAM extended with functionalities analysis design. main focus modelling behavior Ga...

Dissolution of UO2, U3O8, and solid solutions of actinides in UO2 in subacid aqueous solutions (pH 0.9-1.4) of Fe(III) nitrate was studied. Complete dissolution of the oxides is attained at a molar ratio of ferric nitrate to uranium of 1.6. During this process actinides pass into the solution in the form of U(VI), Np(V), Pu(III), and Am(III). In the solutions obtained U(VI) is stable both at ro...

This paper reviews fission safety design principles and approaches for coupling inertial confinement fusion (ICF) to a subcritical fission blanket, in Laser ICF Fission Energy (LIFE) power plants. LIFE power plants use fuel derived from either spent fuel from fission reactors, or from natural uranium or thorium. By using fusion neutrons, LIFE plants can fission a large fraction of the heavy met...

Contact between the outer surface of a fuel pellet and the inner surface of the fuel rod cladding can result in several kinds of undesirable behavior. As the pellet swells outward and the cladding creeps down, large stresses are generated in both the pellet and the cladding. This contact may exacerbate chemical degradation of the cladding and the stress may enable rapid propagation of cracks. B...