The nuclear fuel cycle can be truly closed by supp lementing today’s thermal reactors with fast reactors, which can use as fuel the heavy, fissionable isotopes that accumulate in thermal-reactor fuel. In a fully closed cycle, the waste for disposal consists only of fission products with trace amounts of actinides. Eliminating the transuranics reduces the heat load in the repository, increasing ...

At the Ignalina nuclear power plant (NPP), app. 22 thousands of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) assemblies from the RBMK-1500 type reactor have been accumulated [15]. During the operation of Ignalina NPP, the assemblies of SNF were stored in water pools and in storage containers, located in the interim storage facilities. According to revised Lithuanian Strategy for Management of Radioactive Waste [20...

Reports on seizures of nuclear material (i.e., uranium or plutonium) and of radioactive sources continue to attract the attention of the public and are a reason for concern due to the hazard associated with such material. Once the material has been detected and secured, the questions on the intended use, the radiological hazard and the origin of the material need to be answered. Classical foren...

Uranium mining and milling industries are growing rapidly in many countries and this trend is likely to continue with the increasing demand for nuclear fuel. The problems of radiological hazards in this part of the nuclear fuel cycle have received considerable attention in recent years because of the epidenuological evidence of lung cancer among uranium miners, mainly smokers. The hazard is not...

Scenario simulations are the main tool for studying impact of a nuclear reactor fleet on related fuel cycle facilities. This equilibrium preliminary study aims to present functionalities new and show wide variety reactors/cycles/strategies that can be studied in steady state conditions validated with more details thanks dynamic code. Different types scenario simulation tools have been developed...

Uranium oxides are fascinating materials not only owing to their technological significance in nuclear fuel applications [1] but also with respect to their dynamical properties [2], valence orbital configuration [3] and elementary excitations [4]. Understanding of the electronic, magnetic and crystal structural properties of uranium dioxide (UO2) was advanced significantly [5,6] after establish...