Download or read book Thorium as a Waste Management Option written by European Commission and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Thorium Fuel Cycle written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a critical review of the thorium fuel cycle: potential benefits and challenges in the thorium fuel cycle, mainly based on the latest developments at the front end of the fuel cycle, applying thorium fuel cycle options, and at the back end of the thorium fuel cycle.

Download or read book Nuclear Waste Management in a Globalised World written by Urban Strandberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High-level nuclear waste (HLW) is a controversial and risky issue. For the next 100 years, the HLW will be subject to policy decisions and value assessments. Physically safe, technologically stable, and socio-economically sustainable HLW-management will top the agenda. That must be accomplished in a society whose segments are both stable and in a rapid state of flux, under the influence of global as well as national factors, private interests as well as the vagaries of national politics. Among the challenges to be faced is how to codify responsibilities of nuclear industry, governments and international organisations, and any adopted management policy must attain legitimacy at the local, national, regional and global levels. All such considerations raise questions about the practical and theoretical knowledge. This special issue book will address these questions by exploring HLW-management in Canada, France, Germany, India, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Special emphasis will be placed on highlighting national context, current trends and uncertainties, with relevance to a socially sustainable contemporary and future HLW-management.

Download or read book LWR First Recycle of TRU with Thorium Oxide for Transmutation and Cross Sections written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A comparison of the environment health and safety characteristics of advanced thorium uranium and uranium plutonium fuel cycles written by Timothy Mason Ault and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The environment, health, and safety properties of thorium-uranium-based ( thorium ) fuel cycles are estimated and compared to those of analogous uranium-plutonium-based ( uranium ) fuel cycle options using a structured assessment methodology. Thorium resource recovery as a measure of environmental sustainability is described in terms of resource availability, chemical processing requirements, and radiological impacts. Results indicate that near-term thorium recovery will occur as a by-product of mining for other commodities, particularly titanium, and could satisfy even the most intensive nuclear demand for thorium six times over. Chemical flowsheet and radiological process analyses show greater, but not insurmountable, impacts for thorium recovery compared to uranium recovery. Four fuel cycle options are compared: a modified-open uranium option, a modified-open thorium option, a closed uranium option, and a closed thorium option. The options are compared on the bases of resource sustainability, waste management (both low- and high-level waste), and occupational radiological impacts. At steady-state, occupational doses somewhat favor the closed thorium option while low-level waste slightly favors the closed uranium option, although uncertainties are significant. The high-level waste properties favor the closed options (especially with thorium), but uranium options produce slightly less I-129 and may present less risk in a repository environment. Resource requirements are much lower for the closed options and are relatively similar between thorium and uranium. In addition to the steady-state results, several potential transition pathways are considered for closed uranium and thorium end-states. For dose, low-level waste, and fission products contributing to repository risk, the differences among transition impacts largely reflect the steady-state differences. However, the high-level waste properties show the opposite result in transition (strongly favoring uranium, whereas thorium is strongly favored at steady-state), since used present-day uranium fuel is disposed in transitions to purely thorium-based options. Resource consumption was the only metric was strongly influenced by specific transition pathways, favoring the most rapid transitions regardless of whether thorium or uranium was used.

Download or read book Improving the Regulation and Management of Low Activity Radioactive Wastes written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2006-05-24 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The largest volumes of radioactive wastes in the United States contain only small amounts of radioactive material. These low-activity wastes (LAW) come from hospitals, utilities, research institutions, and defense installations where nuclear material is used. Millions of cubic feet of LAW also arise every year from non-nuclear enterprises such as mining and water treatment. While LAW present much less of a radiation hazard than spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive wastes, they can cause health risks if controlled improperly. Improving the Regulation and Management of Low-Activity Radioactive Wastes asserts that LAW should be regulated and managed according to the degree of risk they pose for treatment, storage, and disposal. Current regulations are based primarily on the type of industry that produced the waste-the waste's origin-rather than its risk. In this report, a risk-informed approach for regulating and managing all types of LAW in the United States is proposed. Implemented in a gradual or stepwise fashion, this approach combines scientific risk assessment with public values and perceptions. It focuses on the hazardous properties of the waste in question and how they compare with other waste materials. The approach is based on established principles for risk-informed decision making, current risk-informed initiatives by waste regulators in the United States and abroad, solutions available under current regulatory authorities, and remedies through new legislation when necessary.

Download or read book Thorium Energy for the World written by Jean-Pierre Revol and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Thorium Energy Conference (ThEC13) gathered some of the world’s leading experts on thorium technologies to review the possibility of destroying nuclear waste in the short term, and replacing the uranium fuel cycle in nuclear systems with the thorium fuel cycle in the long term. The latter would provide abundant, reliable and safe energy with no CO2 production, no air pollution, and minimal waste production. The participants, representatives of 30 countries, included Carlo Rubbia, Nobel Prize Laureate in physics and inventor of the Energy Amplifier; Jack Steinberger, Nobel Prize Laureate in physics; Hans Blix, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Rolf Heuer, Director General of CERN; Pascal Couchepin, former President of the Swiss Confederation; and Claude Haegi, President of the FEDRE, to name just a few. The ThEC13 proceedings are a source of reference on the use of thorium for energy generation. They offer detailed technical reviews of the status of thorium energy technologies, from basic R&D to industrial developments. They also describe how thorium can be used in critical reactors and in subcritical accelerator-driven systems (ADS), answering the important questions: – Why is thorium so attractive and what is the role of innovation, in particular in the nuclear energy domain? – What are the national and international R&D programs on thorium technologies and how are they progressing? ThEC13 was organized jointly by the international Thorium Energy Committee (iThEC), an association based in Geneva, and the International Thorium Energy Organisation (IThEO). It was held in the Globe of Science and Innovation at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2013.

Download or read book Management of Norm Residues written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by International Atomic Energy Agency. This book was released on 2013-07-01 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Long term Radiological Aspects of Management of Wastes from Uranium Mining and Milling written by OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health and published by Nuclear Energy Agency : Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ; [Washington, D.C. : OECD Publications and Information Center. This book was released on 1984 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy written by Thomas James Dolan and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2024-01-25 with total page 1068 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy, Second Edition is a fully updated comprehensive reference on the latest advances in MSR research and technology. Building on the successful first edition, Tom Dolan and the team of experts have fully updated the content to reflect the impressive advances from the last 5 years, ensuring this book continues to be the go-to reference on the topic. This new edition covers progress made in MSR design, details innovative experiments, and includes molten salt data, corrosion studies and deployment plans. The successful case studies section of the first edition have been removed, expanded, and fully updated, and are now published in a companion title called Global Case Studies on Molten Salt Reactors. Readers will gain a deep understanding of the advantages and challenges of MSR development and thorium fuel use, as well as step-by-step guidance on the latest in MSR reactor design. Each chapter provides a clear introduction, covers technical issues and includes examples and conclusions, while promoting the sustainability benefits throughout. - A fully updated comprehensive handbook on Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy, written by a team of global experts - Covers MSR applications, technical issues, reactor types and reactor designs - Includes 3 brand new chapters which reflect the latest advances in research and technology since the first edition published - Presents case studies on molten salt reactors which aid in the transition to net zero by providing abundant clean, safe energy to complement wind and solar powe

Download or read book Disposition of High Level Radioactive Waste Through Geological Isolation written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-10-07 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the next several years, decisions are expected to be made in several countries on the further development and implementation of the geological disposition option. The Board on Radioactive Waste Management (BRWM) of the U.S. National Academies believes that informed and reasoned discussion of relevant scientific, engineering and social issues can-and should-play a constructive role in the decision process by providing information to decision makers on relevant technical and policy issues. A BRWM-initiated project including a workshop at Irvine, California on November 4-5, 1999, and subsequent National Academies' report to be published in spring, 2000, are intended to provide such information to national policy makers both in the U.S. and abroad. To inform national policies, it is essential that experts from the physical, geological, and engineering sciences, and experts from the policy and social science communities work together. Some national programs have involved social science and policy experts from the beginning, while other programs have only recently recognized the importance of this collaboration. An important goal of the November workshop is to facilitate dialogue between these communities, as well as to encourage the sharing of experiences from many national programs. The workshop steering committee has prepared this discussion for participants at the workshop. It should elicit critical comments and help identify topics requiring in-depth discussion at the workshop. It is not intended as a statement of findings, conclusions, or recommendations. It is rather intended as a vehicle for stimulating dialogue among the workshop participants. Out of that dialogue will emerge the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the National Academies' report.

Download or read book Sustainable Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycles written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This article presents analyses of possible reactor representations of a nuclear fuel cycle with continuous recycling of thorium and produced uranium (mostly U-233) with thorium-only feed. The analysis was performed in the context of a U.S. Department of Energy effort to develop a compendium of informative nuclear fuel cycle performance data. The objective of this paper is to determine whether intermediate spectrum systems, having a majority of fission events occurring with incident neutron energies between 1 eV and 105 eV, perform as well as fast spectrum systems in this fuel cycle. The intermediate spectrum options analyzed include tight lattice heavy or light water-cooled reactors, continuously refueled molten salt reactors, and a sodium-cooled reactor with hydride fuel. All options were modeled in reactor physics codes to calculate their lattice physics, spectrum characteristics, and fuel compositions over time. Based on these results, detailed metrics were calculated to compare the fuel cycle performance. These metrics include waste management and resource utilization, and are binned to accommodate uncertainties. In conclusion, the performance of the intermediate systems for this self-sustaining thorium fuel cycle was similar to a representative fast spectrum system. However, the number of fission neutrons emitted per neutron absorbed limits performance in intermediate spectrum systems.

Download or read book A Review of Thorium Utilization as an Option for Advanced Fuel Cycle Potential Option for Brazil in the Future written by J. R. Maiorino and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the beginning of Nuclear Energy Development, Thorium was considered as a potential fuel, mainly due to the potential to produce fissile uranium 233. Several Th/U fuel cycles, using thermal and fast reactors were proposed, such as the Radkwoski once through fuel cycle for PWR and VVER, the thorium fuel cycles for CANDU Reactors, the utilization in Molten Salt Reactors, the utilization of thorium in thermal (AHWR), and fast reactors (FBTR) in India, and more recently in innovative reactors, mainly Accelerator Driven System, in a double strata fuel cycle. All these concepts besides the increase in natural nuclear resources are justified by non proliferation issues (plutonium constrain) and the waste radiological toxicity reduction. The paper intended to summarize these developments, with an emphasis in the Th/U double strata fuel cycle using ADS. Brazil has one of the biggest natural reserves of thorium, estimated in 1.2 millions of tons of ThO{sub 2}, as will be reviewed in this paper, and therefore R & D programs would be of strategically national interest. In fact, in the past there was some projects to utilize Thorium in Reactors, as the ''Instinto/Toruna'' Project, in cooperation with France, to utilize Thorium in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor, in the mid of sixties to mid of seventies, and the thorium utilization in PWR, in cooperation with German, from 1979-1988. The paper will review these initiatives in Brazil, and will propose to continue in Brazil activities related with Th/U fuel cycle.

Download or read book Analysis of Multi recycle Thorium Fuel Cycles in Comparison with Once through Fuel Cycles written by Lloyd Michael Huang and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this research is to develop a methodology for a thorium fuel recycling analysis that provides results for isotopics and radio-toxicity evaluation and analysis. This research is motivated by the need to reduce the long term radiological hazard in spent nuclear fuel, which mitigates the mixing hazard (radiotoxicity and chemical toxicity) and decay heat load on the repository. The first part of the thesis presents comparison of several once-through cases with uranium and thorium fuels to show how transuranics build up as fuel is depleted. The once-through analysis is performed for the following pairs of comparison cases: low enriched uranium dioxide (UOX) vs. thorium dioxide with 233UOX (233U-ThOX), natural uranium dioxide mixed with transuranic oxides (U-TRUOX) vs. thorium dioxide mixed with transuranic oxides (Th-TRUOX), natural uranium dioxide mixed with weapons grade plutonium dioxide (U-WGPuOX) vs. thorium dioxide mixed with weapons grade plutonium dioxide (Th-WGPuOX), natural uranium dioxide mixed with reactor grade plutonium dioxide (U-RGPuOX) vs. thorium mixed with reactor grade plutonium dioxide (Th-RGPuOX). The second part of the research evaluates the thorium fuel equilibrium cycle in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and compares several recycling cases with different partitioning schemes. Radio-toxicity results of the once-through cycle and multi-recycle calculations demonstrate advantages for thorium fuel and reprocessing with respect to long term nuclear waste management.

Download or read book Nuclear Development Management of Recyclable Fissile and Fertile Materials written by and published by Organization for Economic. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest in nuclear energy continues to grow in many countries as a means to ensure security of energy supply and to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. In this context, recyclable materials constitute an asset for broadening the resource base for nuclear fuel supply, especially in medium- and long-term perspectives. This report provides an overview of recyclable fissile and fertile materials inventories which can be reused as nuclear fuel. It reviews the options available for managing those materials, through recycling and/or disposal. The potential energetic value of recyclable materials is assessed, taking into account the variability of retrievable energy contents of various materials according to technology and strategy choices made by the owners of the materials.

Download or read book Treatment Methods and Comparative Risks of Thorium Removal from Waste Residues written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study was done to examine the risks of remediation and the effectiveness of removal methods for thorium and its associated radioactive decay products from various soils and wastes associated with DOE's Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). Removal of 23°Th from uranium process residues would significantly reduce the buildup of 226Ra (half-life of 1600 years), and since 23°Th concentrations at most of the important sites greatly exceed the 226Ra concentrations, such removal would reduce the accumulation of additional radiation risks associated with 226Ra and its products; and, if treatment also removed 226Ra, these risks could be mitigated even further. Removal of 232Th from thorium process residues would remove the source material for 228Ra, and since 228Ra has a half-life of 5.76 years, its control at FUSRAP sites could be done with land use controls for the 30--50 years required for 228Ra and the risks associated with its decay products to decay away. It must be recognized, however, that treatment methods invariably require workers to process residues and waste materials usually with bulk handling techniques. These processes expose workers to the radioactivity in the materials, therefore, workers would incur radiological risks in addition to industrial accident risks. An important question is whether the potential reduction of future radiological risks to members of the public justifies the risks that are incurred by remediation workers due to handling materials. This study examines, first, the effectiveness of treatment and then the risks that would be associated with remediation.

Download or read book Nuclear Back end and Transmutation Technology for Waste Disposal written by Ken Nakajima and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-05 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers essential aspects of transmutation technologies, highlighting especially the advances in Japan. The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has caused us to focus attention on a large amount of spent nuclear fuels stored in NPPs. In addition, public anxiety regarding the treatment and disposal of high-level radioactive wastes that require long-term control is growing. The Japanese policy on the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle is still unpredictable in the aftermath of the accident. Therefore, research and development for enhancing the safety of various processes involved in nuclear energy production are being actively pursued worldwide. In particular, nuclear transmutation technology has been drawing significant attention after the accident. This publication is timely with the following highlights: 1) Development of accelerator-driven systems (ADSs), which is a brand-new reactor concept for transmutation of highly radioactive wastes; 2) Nuclear reactor systems from the point of view of the nuclear fuel cycle. How to reduce nuclear wastes or how to treat them including the debris from TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear power stations is discussed; and 3) Environmental radioactivity, radioactive waste treatment and geological disposal policy. State-of-the-art technologies for overall back-end issues of the nuclear fuel cycle as well as the technologies of transmutation are presented here. The chapter authors are actively involved in the development of ADSs and transmutation-related technologies. The future of the back-end issues in Japan is very uncertain after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP and this book provides an opportunity for readers to consider the future direction of those issues.