High-power proton linac for transmuting the long-lived fission products in nuclear waste

Author

Lawrence, G.P.

Author_Institution

Los Alamos Nat. Lab., NM, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

6-9 May 1991

Firstpage

2598

Abstract

A high-power proton linac is being considered at Los Alamos as a driver for a high-flux spallation neutron source capable of transmuting the troublesome long-lived fission products in defense nuclear waste. The transmutation scheme under study provides a high flux (>10/sup 16//cm/sup 2/-s) of thermal neutrons which efficiently converts fission products to stable or short-lived isotopes. A transmuter based on a medium-energy proton linac generating 110 MW of beam power could burn accumulated /sup 99/Tc and /sup 129/I inventory at the US DOE´s Hanford site within 30 years. Preliminary concepts for the accelerator are discussed.<>

Keywords

linear accelerators; proton accelerators; radiation decontamination; /sup 129/I; /sup 99/Tc; 110 MW; high-flux spallation neutron source; high-power proton linac; long-lived fission products; nuclear waste; transmutation; Acceleration; Laboratories; Linear particle accelerator; Neutrons; Particle beams; Power generation; Protons; Radioactive pollution; Rapid thermal processing; US Department of Energy;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Particle Accelerator Conference, 1991. Accelerator Science and Technology., Conference Record of the 1991 IEEE

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0135-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PAC.1991.165042

Filename

165042