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4.6 Nuclear Physics Tools and Applications 4.6.1 Introduction From the beginning and all along its history, fundamental knowledge and technological developments in Nuclear Physics has stimulated and fertilized research and applications in a variety of other fields. The growing interest of these interdisciplinary research areas is boosted either by the relevance of the domain itself, or by new possibilities offered by recent developments of nuclear techniques and tools. In this report, we try to review briefly the recent achievements and the current state of the art in all the domains of applications of Nuclear Physics, discuss the future perspectives, identify the strength and weaknesses of the different communities involved in these domains and formulate recommendations. The report is divided according to the different domains of applications: • Energy • Life science • Environmental and space applications • Security • Material science and applications to other domains • Cultural heritage, arts and archaeology with an additional section devoted to new frontiers in nuclear physics tools i.e. accelerators, detectors and electronics. The last section summarises the main conclusions of the report and gives general recommendations for the future. 4.6.2 Nuclear Energy Key Question How can Nuclear Physics contribute to the sustainability and acceptability of nuclear energy generation Key Issues • Accurate nuclear data for the design of new generation reactors • Study and modeling of nuclear reactions involved in transmutation processes or new fuel cycles • Modern Nuclear Physics tools (accelerators, detectors, modeling techniques,..) applied to the design and construction of next generation fission/fusion reactors and incineration factories The discovery of fission in the late 30s represented the second major contribution to energy generation under human control after the combustion process. However, security issues together with proliferation problems and the concern on the disposal of waste resulted in extensive discussions questioning the interest of this source of energy in the 80s. Nowadays, the amplification of the green house effect contributing to the global warming due to anthropogenic burning of fossil fuels, together with the important increase in energy demand expected during the next decades are changing the energy policies worldwide. A mixing of sustainable CO 2 free energies based on renewable sources but also on advanced nuclear energy generators seems to be an option to combat climate change. In this respect, inherently safe fission reactors, transmutation of minor actinides responsible for the main long-term radioactive hazard of today’s fission reactors and the development of fusion technologies will certainly contribute to reach this aim by improving social acceptance of nuclear energy. Fundamental Nuclear Physics research being responsible of the discovery of the energy-generation processes, fission and fusion, can still contribute improving the sustainability of these energy sources. Nuclear data relevant for the design of new generation fission reactors or future fusion reactors, high-power accelerators producing neutrons in some waste transmutation options constitutes examples of the role that fundamental nuclear physics can play in solving the energy generation problem. Moreover preserving and developing the required nuclear knowledge through education and research at European universities and institutes is an important goal to fulfil the worldwide energy policy. 176 | Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe – NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010
Advanced options for nuclear energy generation Next generation fission reactors Next generation (Generation IV) fission reactors are being designed under the following criteria: • Sustainability: long-term availability of systems and effective fuel utilization for worldwide energy production, minimization and management of nuclear waste in order to reduce the long-term stewardship burden. • Economics: advantage over other energy sources, with a level of financial risk comparable to other energy projects. • Safety and Reliability: inherently safe reactors with a reliability at least equal to the most reliable present reactors • Proliferation resistance and physical protection against natural or human induced disasters. Fast reactor concepts studied in the framework of GenIV Forum, as the already demonstrated Na-coolant technology, fulfill most of the requirements. On the longer term, reactors based on the thorium cycle could also prove to be of interest. Accelerator-driven systems for nuclear waste transmutation In the 90s the transmutation of nuclear waste was proposed in dedicated sub-critical reactors assisted by high-power accelerators known as accelerator-driven systems (ADS). Since then, important efforts have been devoted for the conceptual design of such a device. Presently, projects like MYRRHA in Europe, are proposed to demonstrate the feasibility and transmutation capabilities of those systems. Figure 1. The IFMIF facility foreseen for testing materials for future fusion reactors. Fusion reactors The fusion process, considered to provide sustainable energy of nuclear origin, recently received a definitive impulse with the construction of the next-generation research reactor ITER and the conceptual design of a dedicated facility, IFMIF, for investigating fusion material properties under extreme irradiation conditions. These two facilities together with the future industrial demonstrator DEMO define the roadmap for the magnetic confinement fusion technologies. Laser-driven inertial fusion will also be studied at LMJ in France and within the HiPER European project using the promising fast ignition approach. The role of nuclear physics In the last decade Nuclear Physics has played decisive role in many relevant aspects related to the design of advanced options for nuclear energy. The most relevant contributions are the following: Nuclear data and models Accurate nuclear data and reaction models are of outmost importance not only for designing next-generation fission reactors, accelerator-driven systems or fusion reactors but also for extending the operation lifetime of present fission reactors. The main research programmes developed during the last decade in Europe are: • precise measurements of capture and fission cross sections induced by fast neutrons on actinides and minor actinides of interest for fast reactors, the thorium fuel cycle or transmutation devices: differential measurements at facilities such as nTOF-CERN, GELINA or semi-integral experiments in thermal spectra (Mini- INCA at ILL). • use of surrogate reactions for determining capture or fi ssion reactions not accessible by direct methods (Bordeaux, Orsay, GANIL, ISOLDE) • characterization of spallation reactions producing neutrons for transmutation in ADS (Jülich, Uppsala, Louvain-la-Neuve) in particular by measuring isotopic yields of spallation residues by the reverse kinematics technique at GSI. • integral experiments for investigating the transmutation of nuclear waste in ADS like MUSE (Cadarache), MEGAPIE (PSI) and GUINEVERE (Mol). • β-decay studies of fi ssion fragments related to the reactor heat problem (Jyvaskyla) Moreover, many research projects focusing on fundamental aspects of nuclear reactions and nuclear structure have an important impact on nuclear technologies or nuclear safety issues. For example they contribute to Perspectives of Nuclear Physics in Europe – NuPECC Long Range Plan 2010 | 177
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Forward Look Perspectives of Nuclea
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Contents Foreword 3 1. Executive Su
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Foreword The goal of this European
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1. Executive Summary 1.1.3 Objectiv
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1. Executive Summary structure and
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1. Executive Summary using slow ant
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1. Executive Summary The role of gl
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1. Executive Summary Advances in nu
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2. Recommendations and Roadmap EURI
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3. Research Infrastructures and Net
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4. Scientific Themes 4.1 Hadron Phy
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4.1.2 Basic Properties of Quantum C
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coupling can be applied. A key tool
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opportunity to determine the moduli
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A broad experimental programme has
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4.1.4 Hadron Spectroscopy Recent Ac
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Physics Perspectives There is a mul
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Global Perspective and Efforts In t
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The longest-range parts of these fo
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concentrate their efforts and conti
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4. Scientific Themes 4.2 Phases of
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tion of state would therefore deter
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an increase at the deconfinement te
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can be described with statistical h
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Box 3. Heavy ion fragmentation and
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Figure 7. Isotopic dependence of th
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energies so far did not find indica
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4.2.5 The High-Energy Frontier The
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Figure 10. Elliptic flow parameter
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elevant experimental and analysis r
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the same time being able to precise
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technology), a three-dimensional ar
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4. Scientific Themes 4.3 Nuclear St
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4.3.2 Theoretical Aspects Ab Initio
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the continuum, as done, e.g., in th
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Each of these extensions will open
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Halos, clusters and few-body correl
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Figure 3. Mirror Energy Differences
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Superheavy elements The existence o
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Figure 5. Gamma-ray spectrum of the
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The experimental evidence for the e
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4.3.7 Ground-State Properties Figur
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For nuclear astrophysics applicatio
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Page 205 and 206: 5.3 Acronyms and Abbreviations ADS
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