Discriminators are described that quantify enhancements added to plutonium destruction and/or nuclear waste transmutation systems through use of an accelerator/fluid fuel combination. This combination produces a robust and flexible nuclear system capable of the destruction of all major long-lived actinides (including plutonium) and fission products. The discriminators discussed in this report a...

The largest experience in operating nuclear power plants has been in nuclear naval propulsion, particularly aircraft carriers and submarines. This accumulated experience may become the basis of a proposed new generation of compact-sized nuclear power plants designs. The mission for nuclear powered submarines is being redefined in terms of signal intelligence gathering and special operations. Th...

Among the microanalytical techniques, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) is one of the most powerful. Its performances can be used to provide an accurate characterization. In the present article the differences between the EPMA of highly irradiated materials and standard EPMA are highlighted. It focuses on the shielded EPMA specificities. Then, the article presents the difficulties encountered...

High level Liquid Waste (HLW) is generated during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel which is used to recover uranium and plutonium. More than 99% of the radioactivity generated during the burning of nuclear fuel in the reactor is present in HLW. For the efficient management of HLW either by vitrification in the suitable borosilicate glass matrix, or partitioning and transmutation (P&T) of ...

When minimizing the size of the spent nuclear fuel repository, two parameters are important: the required total number of canisters and distance between neighbouring canisters (the canister array pitch). If the latter is kept fixed, the Canister Filling Problem arises. On the other hand, if the former is assumed minimal, we come across the Alternative Canister Filling Problem. Both problems are...

Here we summarize the findings of this report on the history and current status of radioactive waste management in ten countries. The case studies include four countries that reprocess nuclear spent fuel (France, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom), five countries that are planning on direct disposal of spent fuel (Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and the United States) and one country (Sou...

A simple and rapid method with low radiation exposure risk was developed for the determination of neodymium in spent nuclear fuel by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection using a fluorescent probe having a macrocyclic hexadentate polyaminocarboxylate structure. The concentration of Nd(III) in a spent nuclear fuel sample was determined with no interference from vari...

This paper uses neuro-fuzzy programming to perform a comparison between the different electricity power generation options for Jordan. Different systems are considered: in addition to fossil fuel power plants, nuclear, solar, wind, and hydropower systems are evaluated. Based on cost-to-benefit ratios, results show that solar, wind, and hydropower are considered to be the best systems for electr...

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...