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Nuclear Criticality Analyses Of Separations Processes For The Transmutation Fuel Cycle: Quaterly Report, William Culbreth, Pang Tao

Separations Campaign (TRP)

During the first quarter of the work, the tasks included training students in the use of Monte Carlo codes used in radiation transport studies and the assessment of neutron multiplication factors for specific problems outlined by ANL-East through Drs. Laidler and Vandegrift.

The proposal also included objectives for the first year of work on this project, as listed below. The work conducted in the first quarter of the project was in partial completion of these objectives.

• Train UNLV students in the use of SCALE and/or MCNP for the assessment of nuclear criticality.

• Assess neutron multiplication factor, k_{eff …}

Nuclear Criticality Analyses Of Separations Processes For The Transmutation Fuel Cycle, William Culbreth, Pang Tao

Separations Campaign (TRP)

To mitigate the waste created by conventional fission reactors, spent nuclear fuel must be mechanically separated from its cladding. For the development of fuel processing technology to support the Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program, aqueous and pyrochemical processes will be used to further separate technetium and iodine, uranium and the higher actinides (see Figure 1 for an example of the process layout)1. The higher actinides, including plutonium, americium, curium, and neptunium will be separated from the waste to facilitate their fabrication into new fuel for placement in a transmuter. High-energy neutrons generated by spallation in the transmuter break down these …