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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
Takeshi Itoh, Yuji Torikai, Satoshi Ueda, Masao Matsuyama, Katsuyoshi Tatenuma, Kuniaki Watanabe
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 741-745
Decontamination and Waste | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22685
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
With regard to tritiated contaminants, effective and simple dry decontamination method using ozone gas were proposed. By the treatment in ozone gas of 400 ppmv at 400 K, in the cases of stainless steel, the decontamination efficiencies of over 99 % were obtained for 1 hour, and the decontamination efficiencies of aluminum were 80–86 %. By the treatment of ozone gas, the quantity of the carbon atom on the surface and in inside layer were decreased, and the oxidation on the surface and in inside was proceeded, which may be assumed and expected that the recombination, release and diffusion to the surface of tritium are prevented by a rigid oxide layer generated.The ozone gas treatment is easy to use and apply in practice with a simple and safe operation. Furthermore, gas-phase decontamination technology has many advantages over conventional wet methods, in particular, its simple control processes and small secondary waste. The proposed decontamination technology has the sufficient ability and potential to simplify a decontamination operation and reduce the large volumes waste.