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Latest News
Retrieval of nuclear waste canisters from a borehole
Borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) uses off-the-shelf directional drilling technology developed and commercialized by the oil and gas sectors. It is a technology that has been gaining traction in recent years in the nuclear industry. Disposal can be done in one or more boreholes (including an array) drilled into suitable sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic host rocks. Waste is encapsulated in specialized corrosion-resistant canisters, which are placed end to end in disposal sections of relatively small-diameter boreholes that have been cased and fluid-filled. After emplacement, the vertical access hole is plugged and backfilled as an engineered barrier.
A. Kumar, M.A. Abdou, M.Z. Youssef, Y. Ikeda, C. Konno, Y. Oyama, K. Kosako, F. Maekawa, H. Maekawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 2180-2189
Blanket Shield and Neutronic | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A30043
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of long-lived radioactivity are required to generate reliable data-base for qualifying fusion materials for reactor applications. However, long half lives necessitate intense 14 MeV neutron source, long irradiation time, long cooling time, and long counting time under low background. A 32h12m long irradiation, at mean source neutron intensity of 1.13 × 1012 n/s, was carried out on a number of foil packages kept near rotating neutron taiget source at FNS under USDOE/JAERI collaborative program in June 1989. Four identical foil packages were kept at 0, 45, 90, and ∼115 degrees to the d+ beam. Each package contained foils of Ag, Al, Dy, Hf, 151Eu, 153Eu, Hf, Ho, Ir, Mo, Re, Tb, and W. The objective was to measure decay γ radioactivity from 108mAg, 26Al, 158Tb, 152Eu, 150Eu, 94Nb, 186mRe, 178m2Hf, 192mIr, and 166mHo, among others. The half lives of these products range from 13.3y (152Eu) to 0.72My (26Al). These foils were interspersed with dosimetric foils of Nb and Zr. An estimated average fluence of ∼0.83 × 1015 n/cm2 (range: 0.47–1.65.1015 n/cm2) was obtained for the foil-package at zero degree. After cooling times ranging from 1.3 to 2 years, γ-spectroscopy of some of these foils has been completed. Analysis of measurements, done on foil package at zero degree, has been carried out using four radioactivity codes, REAC-2, DKRICF, ACT4 (THIDA-2), and RACC. REAC-2 is the only code that has data for most of the observed products; RACC has data for Al, Mo and W products only. Ratio of computed to experimentally measured activities varies from 4.10−5 to 377. Major update of all four cross-section libraries is recommended as waste classification of many fusion specific materials is likely to change dramatically.