THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE - Opportunities for Norway ...

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Thorium as an Energy Source - Opportunities for Norway Table 5.6: Selected Accelerator Driven System (ADS) projects. Project Neutron Source Core Purpose FEAT (CERN) TARC (CERN) MUSE (France) YALINA (Belorus) MEGAPIE (Switzerland) TRADE (Italy) TEF-P (Japan) SAD (Russia) TEF-T (Japan) MYRRHA (Belgium) XT-ADS (Europe) EFIT (Europe) Proton (0.6 to 2.75 GeV) (~10 10 p/s) Proton (0.6 to 2.75 GeV) (~10 10 p/s) DT (~10 10 n/s) DT (~10 10 n/s) Proton (600 Me) + Pb-Bi (1MW) Proton (140 MeV) + Ta (40 kW) Proton (600 MeV) + Pb-Bi (10W, ~10 12 n/s) Proton (660 MeV) + Pb-Bi (1 kW) Proton (600 MeV) + Pb-Bi (200 kW) Proton (600 MeV) + Pb-Bi (1.5 MW) Proton (600 MeV) + Pb-Bi or He (4-5 MW) Proton ( ≈ 1 GeV) + Pb-Bi or He (≈ 10 MW) Thermal (≈ 1 W) Fast (≈ 1 W) Fast (< 1 kW) Fast (< 1 kW) ----- Thermal (200 kW) Fast (< 1 kW) Fast (20 kW) ----- Fast (60 MW) Fast (50-100 MW) Fast (200-300 MW) Reactor physics of thermal subcritical system (k≈0.9) with spallation source - done Lead slowing down spectrometry and transmutation of LLFP - done Reactor physics of fast subcritical system - done Reactor physics of thermal & fast subcritical system - done Demonstration of 1MW target for short period - done Demonstration of ADS with thermal feedback - cancelled Coupling of fast subcritical system with spallation source including MA fuelled configuration - postponed Coupling of fast subcritical system with spallation source - planned Dedicated facility for demonstration and accumulation of material data base for long term - postponed Experimental ADS - under study FP6 EUROTRANS Prototype ADS - under study FP6 EUROTRANS Transmutation of MA and LLFP - under study FP6 EUROTRANS The report "Accelerator-driven Systems (ADS) and Fast Reactors (FR) in Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles" [106], prepared by a panel of international experts under the auspices of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, clearly demonstrated the advantage of this positioning of ADS with respect to critical cores for concentrated management of waste. Hybrid systems perform as excellent dedicated minor actinide incinerators and offer the required flexibility for transition scenarios. This report also indicates that the meaningful reduction of the radiotoxicity of waste (at least a factor of 100) requires multi-recycling of fuels in which fuel losses to waste are to be very low. The knowledge available today and at the end of the FP6 integrated projects (EUROTRANS and EUROPART) is and will be very important [126]. A better understanding and control over the different R&D topics required for ADS was and is still being gained, namely: • Partitioning of high level waste (HLW) both via aqueous and pyro-reprocessing. • Advanced fuels development heavily loaded with minor actinides (MAs). • ADS Design addressing the key points of the ADS components: accelerator development feasibility of both window and windowless spallation targets 68
Nuclear Reactors for Thorium material selection for the internal core structures, the spallation target and fuel cladding the sub-critical core design obtaining nuclear data for achieving a reliable design The need for an experimental ADS in Europe and its objectives: In order to develop and test the technology for commercial deployment of accelerator driven systems, an experimental facility is required. This facility should in pilot scale prove the feasibility of operating a sub-critical reactor driven by a high intensity accelerator. It is needed to demonstrate the long-term applicability of corrosion control in lead-bismuth cooled reactors. It should further provide the fast neutron environment necessary for developing minor actinide based transmutation fuels. The availability of a fast neutron spectrum will be mandatory for development of more irradiation resistant structural materials that can increase the operational lifetime of commercial ADS or new generation critical reactors to be deployed in the future. The experimental ADS can also be conceived with less demanding working condition in terms of facility rate availability (50 to 70 %) as compared to the one that would be envisaged for an industrial transmuter (70 to 90 %). Such a reasonable, but nevertheless acceptable, availability rate would allow accommodating the beam trips expected for the first-of-kind machine to be deployed. This will then allow improving the accelerator performance progressively towards the performances to be achieved for the industrial ADS. The domain of interest of such experiment will be to show a reliable operation of the system, from start-up to nominal power level, up to shutdown, in presence of thermal reactor feedback effects. The presence of control rods in the system will allow verifying different modes of operation during fuel irradiation and the determination and monitoring of reactivity levels with “ad-hoc” techniques. The joint cooling of the target and of the sub-critical core will be demonstrated, together with the solution of some practical engineering problems of generic interest for an ADS, such as the configuration of the beam ingress into the core. The possibility to run the experiment at different levels of sub-criticality and power ratings (realised e.g. with appropriate fuel loading patterns), will allow to explore experimentally the transition from an “external” source-dominated regime to a core thermal feedback-dominated regime. This transition is relevant, in particular to understand the dynamic behaviour of an ADS, which, in the future full scale demonstrations of transmutation, could have both a very low βeff and very low Doppler reactivity effect. One important project conducted at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK-CEN) is the MYRRHA project. It aims to serve as a basis for the European experimental demonstration of transmutation in ADS and to provide protons and neutrons for various R&D applications. It consists of a proton accelerator delivering a 600 MeV, 2.5 mA (or 350 MeV, 5 mA) proton beam to a liquid Pb-Bi spallation target that in turn couples to a Pb-Bi cooled, subcritical fast nuclear core. The project started in 1997 and the aim is to put MYRRHA in service in 2016 - 2018. Additional information: [127], [128], [129], [130], [131], [132] and [133]. 5.4.4.10 Roadmap for an Experimental ADS in Europe The roadmap presented in April 2001 by the Extended (actually European) Technical Working Group (ETWG): “A European Roadmap for Developing Accelerator Driven Systems for Nuclear Waste Incineration”, assumes that a major financial investment made as early as 2003, which was the scheduled year of the beginning of the FP6 (255 M€ over 4 years for R&D, engineering for the Detailed Preliminary-Design and the beginning of construction). This financial investment has 69
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2008 THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE -
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents
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Table of Contents 14.2 APPENDIX B2:
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The Thorium Report Committee was gi
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Foreword energy area. The price vol
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summ
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Radiation Protection of Man and the
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Executive Summary nuclear engineeri
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Introduction In the context of such
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2.3 The EU Situation Introduction T
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Oil, Gas, NGL, Condensate (Million
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TWh 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90
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Figure 2.8: Number of Operating Rea
Page 27 and 28: Tonnes 1 200 000 1 000 000 800 000
Page 29 and 30: US $ / kg UF 6 160 140 120 100 80 6
Page 31 and 32: 2.8 Worldwide Activities on Thorium
Page 33 and 34: 1. Alkaline complexes and their peg
Page 35 and 36: Thorium Resources in Norway The tho
Page 37 and 38: Thorium Resources in Norway The pot
Page 39 and 40: Thorium Resources in Norway A serie
Page 41 and 42: 4.1.1 Mining and Extraction The Fro
Page 43 and 44: The Front End of the Thorium Fuel C
Page 45 and 46: The Front End of the Thorium Fuel C
Page 47 and 48: 4.3.2 HTGR Fuel Performance The Fro
Page 49 and 50: 5.1 Properties of the Fertile Mater
Page 51 and 52: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium Table
Page 53 and 54: 5.3.1 Light Water Reactor (LWR) Nuc
Page 55 and 56: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium 2. Cyc
Page 57 and 58: 5.3.2.4 Gas Turbine-Modular Helium
Page 59 and 60: Figure 5.7: General Layout of the A
Page 61 and 62: 5.4.2 Generation IV Reactors Nuclea
Page 63 and 64: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium econom
Page 65 and 66: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium • Ad
Page 67 and 68: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium temper
Page 69 and 70: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium Figure
Page 71 and 72: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium the de
Page 73 and 74: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium remova
Page 75 and 76: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium result
Page 77: The most important drawbacks of the
Page 81 and 82: 6. THE BACK END OF THE THORIUM FUEL
Page 83 and 84: The Back End of the Thorium Fuel Cy
Page 89 and 90: Radiation Protection of Man and the
Page 97 and 98: 8. REGULATION The use of thorium as
Page 99 and 100: • Safety, security and emergency
Page 101 and 102: Regulation • The Agreement betwee
Page 103 and 104: Non-proliferation Nations with secu
Page 105 and 106: Economical Aspects conventional rea
Page 107 and 108: 11. Radioecology 12. Decommissionin
Page 109 and 110: Research, Development, Education an
Page 117 and 118: Conclusions and Recommendations tho
Page 119 and 120: 13. APPENDIX A: INTRODUCTION TO NUC
Page 121 and 122: 14. APPENDIX B: NUCLEAR REACTOR TEC
Page 123 and 124: Figure 14.3: Boiling Water Reactor
Page 125 and 126: Appendix B: Nuclear Reactor Technol
Page 127 and 128: Table 15.1: The Current Course Pack
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• N12 Reactor Thermal Hydraulics,
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16. APPENDIX D: RADIATION PROTECTIO
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Regulations on Radiation Protection
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”Section 4. (Licence for nuclear
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2. Dues shall be paid for the super
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use the best available technology s
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Summary: Legislation that is or may
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216 Po α 0.145 s 6.906 (805) 212 P
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18. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Acro
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Po polonium Po-208 polonium-208 Po-
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19. REFERENCES References Chapter 2
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References [35] J.D. SEASE et al.,
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References [68] E. Merle-Lucotte, D
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References [97] "On-going activites
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References [122] L. CINOTTI, “Inh
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References [149] M. Crick, UNSCEAR,
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