Search results for "nuclear fuel"
showing 10 items of 29 documents
Micro-Raman analysis of the fuel-cladding interface in a high burnup PWR fuel rod
2017
International audience; New insights on the fuel-cladding bonding layer in high burnup nuclear fuel were obtained using micro-Raman spectroscopy. A specimen was specifically prepared from a fuel rod which had been irradiated to an average burnup of 56 GWd.tU-1 in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). Both inner and outer corrosion scale regions were investigated. A 10-15 et956;m thick zirconia bonding layer between fuel and cladding materials which consisted of three distinct regions was observed. Close to the fuel, tetragonal, then monoclinic zirconia was identified as the main phases. Close to the bonding layer-cladding interface, peculiar Raman signals were observed. Similar signals were ob…
Implementing first principles calculations of defect migration in a fuel performance code for UN simulations
2009
Results are reported of first principles VASP supercell calculations of basic defect migration in UN nuclear fuels. The collinear interstitialcy mechanism of N migration is predicted to be energetically more favourable than direct [0 0 1] hops. It is also found that U and N vacancies have close migration energies, and O impurities accelerate migration of N vacancies nearby. These values are both in qualitative agreement with the effect of oxygen on the reduction of the activation energy for thermal creep reported in the literature, as well as in quantitative agreement with the experimental data when taking into account the uncertainties. The migration energies have been implemented in the t…
The utmost ends of the nuclear fuel cycle: Finnish perceptions of the risks of uranium mining and nuclear waste management
2013
There has been substantial social scientific research to determine how people perceive the risks of nuclear power, wastes, and waste management, but not much attention has been given to risk perceptions of other types of nuclear activities. Knowledge about attitudes towards uranium mining and exploitation is increasing, and more attention should be paid to how people perceive the risks of both ends of the nuclear fuel cycle. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the risk perceptions towards nuclear waste and uranium mining and how these perceptions relate to each other. The analysis is based on Finnish survey data (N = 1180) gathered in 2007. Renewed international interest in nucle…
Nuclear Data for the Thorium Fuel Cycle and the Transmutation of Nuclear Waste
2016
Neutron-induced reaction cross sections play an important role in a wide variety of research fields, ranging from stellar nucleosynthesis, the investigation of nuclear level density studies, to applications of nuclear technology, including the transmutation of nuclear waste, accelerator-driven systems, and nuclear fuel cycle investigations. Simulations of nuclear technology applications largely rely on evaluated nuclear data libraries. These libraries are based both on experimental data and theoretical models. An outline of experimental nuclear data activities at CERN’s neutron time-of-flight facility, n_TOF, will be presented.
Improvements on Decay Heat Summation Calculations by Means of Total Absorption Gamma-ray Spectroscopy Measurements
2011
The decay heat of fission products plays an important role in predictions of the heat released by nuclear fuel in reactors. In this contribution we present results of the analysis of the measurement of the beta decay of some refractory isotopes that were considered possible important contributors to the decay heat in reactors. The measurements presented here were performed at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyvaeskylae, Finland. In our measurements we have combined for the first time a Penning trap (JYFLTRAP), which was used as a high resolution isobaric separator, with a total absorption spectrometer. The results of the measurements as well as their consequences for decay heat sum…
New measurement of the 242Pu(n,γ) cross section at n-TOF-EAR1 for MOX fuels: Preliminary results in the RRR
2016
The spent fuel of current nuclear reactors contains fissile plutonium isotopes that can be combined with 238U to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In this way the Pu from spent fuel is used in a new reactor cycle, contributing to the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. The use of MOX fuels in thermal and fast reactors requires accurate capture and fission cross sections. For the particular case of 242Pu, the previous neutron capture cross section measurements were made in the 70’s, providing an uncertainty of about 35% in the keV region. In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency recommends in its “High Priority Request List” and its report WPEC-26 that the capture cross section of 242Pu…
Radiative neutron capture on Pu242 in the resonance region at the CERN n_TOF-EAR1 facility
2018
The spent fuel of current nuclear reactors contains fissile plutonium isotopes that can be combined with uranium to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In this way the Pu from spent fuel is used in a new reactor cycle, contributing to the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. However, an extensive use of MOX fuels, in particular in fast reactors, requires more accurate capture and fission cross sections for some Pu isotopes. In the case of Pu242 there are sizable discrepancies among the existing capture cross-section measurements included in the evaluations (all from the 1970s) resulting in an uncertainty as high as 35% in the fast energy region. Moreover, postirradiation experiments evaluat…
Design of a neutron converter for fission studies at the IGISOL facility
2012
The upgraded IGISOL facility with JYFLTRAP, at the accelerator laboratory of the University of Jyvaskyla, has been supplied with a new cyclotron which will provide proton or deuteron beams of the order of 100 μA with up to 30 MeV energy. This makes it an ideal place for measurements of neutron-induced fission fragments from various actinides, in view of proposed future nuclear fuel cycles. In the present paper, some considerations for the design of a neutron converter, based on simulations with the Monte Carlo codes MCNPX and FLUKA, are described.
The rationality of acceptance in a nuclear community: analysing residents' opinions on the expansion of the SNF repository in the municipality of Eur…
2010
The project to build a final disposal repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) in the municipality of Eurajoki, Finland, is approaching its 2012 deadline for the application of a construction licence. At the same time, the nuclear waste company Posiva is already planning to expand the disposal capacity of the repository. This paper addresses the question of acceptance among the residents of Eurajoki regarding the repository's expansion, and examines what aspects should be taken into consideration when explaining local opinions. The local acceptance figures for Eurajoki are analysed in relation to assumptions of the six common explanation types. The relationship between information deficit, s…
2018
A vigorous anti-nuclear movement emerged in Germany in the mid 1990s, when spent nuclear fuel elements began to be transported to the interim storage facility in Gorleben, Lower Saxony. Resistance ...