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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
Roland A. Jalbert, Charles E. Murphy
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 14 | Number 2 | September 1988 | Pages 1182-1186
Tritium Release Experiment | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25299
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In June 1987, an experiment was performed at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories in Ontario, Canada, to study the oxidation of HT in the environment. The experiment involved a 30-minute release of 3.54 TBq (95.7 Ci) of HT to the atmosphere at an elevation of one meter. The HTO/HT ratios were shown to slowly increase downwind (∼ 4 × 10−5 at 50 meters to almost 10−3 at 400 meters) as conversion of HT takes place. For several days after the release, HTO concentrations in the atmosphere remained elevated. Freeze-dried water from vegetation samples was found to be very low in HTO immediately after the release suggesting a very low direct uptake of HTO in air by vegetation. The free-HTO concentration in vegetation increased during the first day, peaking during the second day (about 1.5 − 3.0 × 104 Bq/L at 50 meters from the source) and decreasing by the end of the second day. The organically bound tritium continued to accummulate during the period following exposure (about 400 Bq/kg dry weight at 50 meters after two days).
