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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Timothy M. Schriener, Mohamed S. El-Genk
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 349-354
Modeling and Simulations | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13444
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents the results of iterative neutronics and thermal-hydraulic design optimization of a liquid metal cooled reactor for lunar surface power. The reactor placed below grade on the lunar surface is capable of generating 1.0 MWth continuously for ~20 years without refueling. It satisfies subcriticality requirement for shutdown, during launch and when submerged in wet sand and flooded with seawater in the unlikely event of a launch abort accident. The 3-D thermal-hydraulic design ensures good flow distribution and cooling of UN fuel pins and adequate mixing in the exit duct.