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The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
M. Carta, A. D'Angelo
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 133 | Number 3 | November 1999 | Pages 282-292
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-A2088
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) for nuclear waste transmutation will periodically need absolutely calibrated measurements of the subcriticality level. These measurements will allow both the check of the subcriticality margin during the ADS operation life and the related comparison between the experimental and foreseen fuel cycle reactivity effect. Until now, the possibility of absolute (source-jerk-type) reactivity measurements, to be made just after external source breakoff, has been mentioned in ADS proposals.Complementary reactivity measurement techniques are investigated to analyze the ADS response to harmonic modulation of the external neutron source. The point-kinetics approximation is used to test the method by numerical simulations. To take into account spatial effects, a multimode case is finally investigated. Results show that in the case of ADS subcritical systems, the theory of an absolute "reactimeter" may be formulated. The need for explicit transport calculations, before any possible experimental validation, is also mentioned.