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At least 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Systems and methods for separating radium from lead, bismuth, and thorium

Methods for separating Ra from Pb, Bi, and Th are provided, the methods can include: providing a first mixture comprising Ra, Pb, Bi, and/or Th; providing a system that can include: a first vessel housing a first media; a second vessel in fluid communication with the first vessel, the second vessel housing a second media; and a third vessel in fluid communication with the second vessel, the third vessel housing a third media; and exposing the first mixture to the first media within the first vessel then, through the fluid communication, exposing the first remainder to the second media in the second vessel, then, through fluid communication, exposing the next remainder to the third media in the third vessel, the exposing separating the Th and Bi from the Ra and Pb, and the Ra from the Pb. Methods for separating Ra from being associated with a media are also provided. The methods can include: exposing the Ra and media to a chelating agent to form a mixture comprising the Ra complexed with the chelating agent.

O'Hara, Matthew J.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Minimization of Nuclear Waste using AHWR Reactor Technology

Nuclear sciences have grown from creating reactors to a greater understanding of how to dispose off the waste exhibited by the nuclear activities. Various methodologies have been proposed and are being used in order to do the same. This poster poses great attention to 'Using a fuel cycle dedicated to the production of the lower quantity of minor actinides, is one of the key targets in reducing nuclear waste in india'. A significant fraction of thorium is utilized as a fertile host in the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR300-LEU) fuel. Being lower in the periodic table, it leads to a reduction of minor actinides. It produces only half of the minor actinides as a waste as compared to modern LWRs. As thorium oxide has inert nature, it benefits in its prolonged storage. Therefore, safe disposal of spent fuel is achieved due to the inert matrix, on completion of one fuel cycle mode. AHWR is a 300 MWe, vertical, pressure-tube type, boiling light water-cooled, and heavy water-moderated reactor. Employs natural circulation for removal of heat from the reactor core. In-situ conversion of {sup 232}Th into {sup 233}U. The reactor design permits flexible fuel cycle options. There are two types of AHWR depending upon the fuel cycle options. Uses thorium-based oxide fuels: two fuel cycle options. With the adoption of thorium fuel cycle, AHWR300-LEU produces less minor actinides. As compared to modern LWRSs, it produces almost 37% less amount of actinides for the same amount of energy production, which in turn minimizes the burden on waste disposal requirements. But, it is associated with radionuclides such as {sup 231}Pa (produced through absorption of one neutron and emission of two neutrons). Since, the reaction rate of (n,2n) reactions is very low in thermal neutron reactors, thus making the fuel cycle the favorable one. Thorium oxide (ThO{sub 2}) is chemically stable and is the highest oxidation state of thorium, therefore the inert nature of the matrix is advantageous for safe disposal of spent fuel in case of adoption of open fuel cycle mode and offers prolonged storage of spent fuel. The AHWR is thorium fueled Indian nuclear reactor that assimilates several new features with diminished environmental concern due to reduced waste generation. Since thorium fuel cycle produces less long lived nuclear waste, thus it can possibly bring the world cleaner and more sustainable nuclear energy. Currently, India being the only country with large scale research program of thorium nuclear power serves a platform for the development and demonstration of all technologies and advanced safety systems.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS2011

More Surprises from the Moon

Even with the naked eye, the dark, extensive plains of the lunar maria can be clearly seen on the surface of the Moon. The maria formed after meteorite impacts created large craters that later filled with lava flows. Mare volcanism is the dominant type of volcanic activity on the Moon and the lavas are made up of basaltic rocks. However, non-mare volcanic deposits, though rare, have been observed on the lunar nearside. The deposits are distinguished from the maria because they are compositionally more evolved rich in silica, potassium and thorium. The deposits are limited in surface extent and it was unknown whether similar non-mare volcanism occurred at all on the Moon s farside. Writing in Nature Geoscience, Jolliff et al. report using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images and compositional data to identify the rare occurrence of more compositionally evolved volcanic deposits in an isolated area on the Moon s farside. In the 1960s and 1970s, rock and soil samples were collected by the Apollo and Luna missions, by the USA and USSR respectively. This material represents a geologic treasure trove that continues to provide a wealth of information about the Moon and its evolution, and it was a very small fraction of these samples that gave the first hint that non-mare volcanic activity might have occurred. The samples contained fragments of complex volcanic rocks that were unrelated to the maria basalts. Violent bombardment of the Moon by meteorite impacts has caused significant mixing of the rocks at its surface, so the fragments could have had a source hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. The origin of the fragments was unknown. Several decades later, the Lunar Prospector mission used a gamma-ray spectrometer to map the distribution and abundance of various elements, including thorium, on the Moon s surface. The maps identified a distinct and large area of high thorium concentration, as well as several smaller, but equally peculiar areas of high thorium concentration on the nearside of the Moon (Fig. 1). The rocks that contained high thorium contents also exhibited geomorphological and spectral features that were typical of volcanic deposits, and so the thorium hotspots were thought to represent non-mare volcanism on the nearside of the Moon. A relatively large region with extremely high thorium concentrations - the Compton-Belkovich thorium anomaly - was also identified on the Moon s farside. This thorium hotspot was particularly unusual because it was completely isolated, alone on the farside of the Moon, far from the nearest maria. No high-resolution image data were available for this region, so a definitive interpretation of the source of this isolated anomaly has been impossible.

Petro, Noah↗
DOE OSTI2010

Th/U-233 multi-recycle in PWRs.

The use of thorium in current or advanced light water reactors (LWRs) has been of interest in recent years. These interests have been associated with the need to increase nuclear fuel resources and the perceived non-proliferation advantages of the utilization of thorium in the fuel cycle. Various options have been considered for the use of thorium in the LWR fuel cycle including: (1) its use in a once-through fuel cycle to replace non-fissile uranium or to extend fuel burnup due to its attractive fertile material conversion, (2) its use for fissile plutonium burning in limited recycle cores, and (3) its advantage in limiting the transuranic elements to be disposed off in a repository (if only Th/U-233 fuel is used). The possibility for thorium utilization in multirecycle system has also been considered by various researchers, primarily because of the potential for near breeders with Th/U-233 in the thermal energy range. The objective of this project is to evaluate the potential of the Th/U-233 fuel multirecycle in current LWRs, with focus this year on pressurized water reactors (PWRs). In this work, approaches for ensuring a sustainable multirecycle without the need for external source of makeup fissile material have been investigated. The intent is to achieve a design that allows existing PWRs to be used with minimal modifications. In all cases including homogeneous and heterogeneous assembly designs, the assembly pitch is kept consistent with that of the current PWRs (21.5 cm used). Because of design difficulties associated with using the same geometry and dimensions as a PWR core, the potential modifications (other than assembly pitch) that would be needed for PWRs to ensure a sustainable multirecycle system have been investigated and characterized. Additionally, the implications of the use of thorium on the LWR fuel cycle are discussed. In Section 2, background information on studies evaluating the use of thorium in the fuel cycle is provided, but focusing on Th/U-233 multirecycle. Recent studies done internationally and in the U.S. are briefly summarized. Additionally, the previous U.S. thorium breeder experiment in the Shippingport reactor is briefly discussed. The objective of this work and the reactor design issues associated with multirecycle of Th/U-233 are discussed in Section 3. The approaches required to achieve a sustainable system are discussed and evaluated. Homogeneous assembly modeling results are presented in this section. In Section 4, a 17-by-17 heterogeneous assembly design has been selected and evaluated, based on its positive attributes for sustainable Th/U-233 multirecycle. A feasibility study is briefly discussed at the end of this section followed by recommendations for future activities. Section 5 discusses the attributes of the 17-by-17 heterogeneous assembly design. The material mass flow data and fuel cycle impact data are reported in this section. Discussions on the fuel cycle implications of thorium fuel utilization are provided in Section 6. This includes information on fuel sources, fuel manufacturing, fuel reprocessing, and re-fabrication. The conclusions of the study are provided in Section 7.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Synthesis of ThN using a Carbothermic Reduction to Nitridation Process

The thorium fuel cycle has several advantages when compared to the uranium fuel cycle. Not only is thorium more abundant than uranium, it also avoids many of the disadvantages which are inherent to the uranium fuel cycle. For example, the thorium fuel cycle does not result in significant formation of long lived, highly toxic transuranics that are inevitably formed in the uranium fuel cycle. The fissile U-233 that is created through neutron capture of Th-232 is also more proliferation resistant than the Pu-239 created from the uranium fuel cycle, because of the buildup of U-232, a source of extremely hazardous gamma emitters. Additionally, thermal reactors which utilize the thorium fuel cycle may be used to destroy transuranics through transmutation as opposed to the fast reactors that are typically required for the uranium fuel cycle. The result is that not only does the thorium fuel cycle avoid the production of transuranic actinides, it may also be used to destroy the inventory of these isotopes within existing reactors. The work presented here investigates the fabrication of ThN so that its properties may be studied to determine its feasibility as a nuclear fuel within a thorium fuel cycle. While both ThO{sub 2} and ThN have melt points higher than the metal, one of the potential advantages of using ThN instead of ThO{sub 2} is that it has a 28% higher fertile density. Additionally, previous investigations have suggested that ThN has substantially higher thermal conductivity when compared to ThO{sub 2} fuel. This suggests that if a (Th,U)N solid solution can be shown to behave similarly to (U,Pu)N, the nitride fuel form would possess a significant advantage over (Th,U)O{sub 2} which has poor thermal conductivity. A carbothermic reduction to nitridation (CTR-N) process has been utilized extensively at LANL for the production and study of UN, but this type of process has not been used for the fabrication of high purity ThN. The work presented here describes the development of a similar process which will be used to fabricate bulk ThN for subsequent experimental study. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

First-principles determination of the phonon-point defect scattering and thermal transport due to fission products in ThO 2

This work presents the first-principles calculations of the lattice thermal conductivity degradation due to point defects in thorium dioxide using an iterative solution of the Pierels-Boltzmann transport equation. We have used the non perturbative Green’s function methodology to compute the phonon- point defect scattering rates that consider the local distortion around the point defect, including the mass difference changes, interatomic force constants, and structural relaxation near the point defects. The point defects considered in this work include the vacancy of thorium ($V$ $TH$ ) and oxygen ($V$ $O$ ), substitutions of helium ($He$ $Th$ ), krypton ($Kr$ $Th$ ), zirconium ($Zr$ $Th$ ), iodine ($I$ $Th$ ) and xenon ($Xe$ $Th$ ) in the thorium site, and the three different configurations of the Schottky defects. The results of the phonon-defect scattering rate reveal that, among all the considered intrinsic defects, the thorium vacancy and helium substitution in the thorium site scatter the phonon most due to the substantial changes in the force constant and structural distortions. The scattering of phonons due to the substitutional defects unveils that the zirconium atom scatters phonons the least, followed by xenon, iodine, krypton, and helium. This is contrary to the intuition that the scattering strength follows $He$ $Th$ > $Kr$ $Th$ > $Zr$ $Th$ > $I$ $Th$ > $Xe$ $Th$ based on the mass difference. This striking difference in the zirconium phonon scattering is due to the local chemical environment changes. Zirconium is an electropositive element with valency similar to thorium and, therefore, can bond with the oxygen atoms, thus creating less force constant variance compared to iodine, an electronegative element noble gas helium, xenon, and krypton. In conclusion, these results can serve as the benchmark for the analytical models and help the engineering-scale modeling effort for nuclear design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Simulation of an Ultrahigh-Pressure Short-Arc Xenon Discharge Plasma

We have studied a high- (ultrahigh-) pressure short-arc discharge in xenon with thoriated tungsten cathodes. A system of equations formulated based on earlier experimental data indicating possible emission of cathode material (thorium) into the discharge gap has made it possible to determine the electric field strength, plasma temperature, and concentration of thorium atoms as well as thorium and xenon ions in the plasma. The problem has been solved for a model discharge between planar electrodes. The results indicate the key role of thorium atoms in the cathode region. Thorium atoms determine the ionization balance and other electrokinetic properties of plasma. Emission of thorium atoms reduces the plasma temperature at the cathode, which turns out to be noticeably lower than the plasma temperature near the anode; this is a new result that agrees with experimental data. Other electrokinetic characteristics of the plasma (in particular, charged particle concentration and electric field strength) are also in good agreement with the experiment.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Letter Report: Looking Ahead at Nuclear Fuel Resources

The future of nuclear energy and its ability to fulfill part of the world’s energy needs for centuries to come depend on a reliable input of nuclear fuel, either thorium or uranium. Obviously, the present nuclear fuel cycle is completely dependent on uranium. Future thorium cycles will also depend on 235 U or fissile isotopes separated from used fuel to breed 232 Th into fissile 233 U. This letter report discusses several emerging areas of scientific understanding and technology development that will clarify and enable assured supplies of uranium and thorium well into the future. At the most fundamental level, the nuclear energy community needs to appreciate the origins of uranium and thorium and the processes of planetary accretion by which those materials have coalesced to form the earth and other planets. Secondly, the studies of geophysics and geochemistry are increasing understanding of the processes by which uranium and thorium are concentrated in various locations in the earth’s crust. Thirdly, the study of neutrinos and particularly geoneutrinos (neutrinos emitted by radioactive materials within the earth) has given an indication of the overall global inventories of uranium and thorium, though little indication for those materials’ locations. Crustal temperature measurements have also given hints of the vertical distribution of radioactive heat sources, primarily 238 U and 232 Th, within the continental crust. Finally, the evolving technologies for laser isotope separation are indicating methods for reducing the energy input to uranium enrichment but also for tailoring the isotopic vectors of fuels, burnable poisons and structural materials, thereby adding another tool for dealing with long-term waste management.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Surface Cleaning Techniques: Ultra-Trace ICP-MS Sample Preparation and Assay of HDPE

The world’s most sensitive radiation detection and assay systems depend upon ultra-low background (ULB) materials to reduce unwanted radiological backgrounds. Herein, we evaluate methods to clean HDPE, a material of interest to ULB systems and the means to provide rapid assay of surface and bulk contamination. ULB level material and ultra-trace level detection of actinide elements is difficult to attain, due to the introduction of contamination from sample preparation equipment such as pipette tips, sample vials, forceps, etc. and airborne particulate. To date, literature available on the cleaning of such polymeric materials and equipment for ULB applications and ultra-trace analyses is limited. For these reasons, a study has been performed to identify an effective way to remove surface contamination from polymers in an effort to provide improved instrumental detection limits. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) was utilized to assess the effectiveness of a variety of leachate solutions for removal of inorganic uranium and thorium surface contamination from polymers, specifically high density polyethylene (HDPE). HDPE leaching procedures were tested to optimize contaminant removal of thorium and uranium. Calibration curves for thorium and uranium ranged from 15 ppq (fg/mL) to 1 ppt (pg/mL). Detection limits were calculated at 6 ppq for uranium and 7 ppq for thorium. Results showed the most effective leaching reagent to be clean 6 M nitric acid for 72 hour exposures. Contamination levels for uranium and thorium found in the leachate solutions were significant for ultralow level radiation detection applications.

HDPE, Leaching, Ultra-trace, ICP-MS, Uranium, Thor↗
DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of waste arising from future nuclear fuel cycle - 15197

A comprehensive study was recently completed at the request of the US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) to evaluate and screen nuclear fuel cycles. The final report was issued in October 2014. Uranium- and thorium-based fuel cycles were evaluated using both fast and thermal spectrum reactors. Once-through, limited-recycle, and continuous-recycle cases were considered. This study used nine evaluation criteria to identify promising fuel cycles. Nuclear waste management was one of the nine evaluation criteria. The waste generation criterion from this study is discussed herein. The fundamental characteristics of nuclear fuel cycles were used to create a comprehensive set of fuel cycle options. These options were categorized into 40 Evaluation Groups based on similarities in their physics-based performance. These Evaluation Groups, listed below, comprehensively represent all fuel cycle options: - 8 once-through Evaluation Groups: 5 uranium-based fuel cycles and 3 thorium-based fuel cycles - 10 limited-recycle Evaluation Groups: 6 uranium-based fuel cycles and 4 thorium-based fuel cycles, and - 22 continuous-recycle Evaluation Groups: 14 uranium-based fuel cycles and 8 thorium-based fuel cycles. The study focused on the quantity and characteristics of radioactive wastes generated by the different fuel cycles, examining 5 metrics characterizing waste generation: - mass of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) plus high level waste (HLW) disposed per energy generated, - activity of SNF + HLW (at 100 years) per energy generated, - activity of SNF + HLW (at 100,000 years) per energy generated, - mass of depleted uranium (DU) + recovered uranium (RU) + recovered thorium (RTh) disposed per energy generated, and - volume of low level radioactive waste (LLW) per energy generated. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗