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Fusion Science and Technology
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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
A.V. Golubev, S.V. Demina, S.V. Mavrin, M.V. Glagolev, N.T. Kazakovsky, Y.A. Belot, V.N. Golubeva, S.E. Misatyuk
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 478-482
Environment | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22635
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents further results of studies of tritium oxidation in unsaturated soil by microorganisms. The objective of the study was to develop a laboratory technique to study the kinetics of HT deposition to soil due to its oxidation and the kinetics of HTO retention in local soils, which are used for agriculture and forestry. Kinetics of HT to HTO oxidation and deposition to soil has been studied in laboratory conditions. An experimental cell was developed to prepare a mixture of air, water vapor and tritium gas and to pump the mixture through the soil sample under study. The activity of HTO converted in the soil sample during a certain period of time was used to determine the oxidation rate. This rate varies, depending on the catalytic and/or biological activity of the soil material. Theoretical considerations have shown that the deposition rate can be expressed by the effective rate of oxidation, which formally corresponds to the first-order HT oxidation. The rate of HT to HTO conversion and deposition to soil is required for assessment of consequences of HT release into the atmosphere.
