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Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Michelangelo Durazzo, Adonis Marcelo Saliba-Silva, Rafael Henrique Lazzari Garcia, Elita Fontenele Urano De Carvalho, Humberto Gracher Riella
Nuclear Technology | Volume 200 | Number 2 | November 2017 | Pages 170-176
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1353870
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Metallic uranium is a fundamental raw material for producing nuclear fuel elements for research reactors and irradiation targets for producing 99Mo, as U3Si2, UMo alloy, UAlx, and uranium thin foils. Magnesiothermic reduction of UF4 is a possible route in the nuclear fuel cycle for producing uranium as a metal ingot. The main concern about the reducing scale to produce low-enriched (metallic) uranium (LEU) (around 1 kg) is the relatively low yield compared to calciothermic reduction. Nevertheless, the magnesiothermic reduction has the advantages of having lower cost and being a safer method for dealing with uranium processing. The magnesiothermic process, as a batch, is closed inside a sealed crucible. In the present study, in order to have a qualitative idea of the kinetics during the ignition moment, the slag projected over the lateral inner face of the crucible was used to sketch the general magnesiothermic evolution. The methods used were metallographic observation and X-ray diffraction followed by Rietveld refinement. The results of these analyses led to the conception of a general reaction development during the short time between the ignition of the reducing reaction and final settlement of the products. Relevant information from this study led to the conclusion that uranium is not primarily present in the lateral slag projection over the crucible during the reaction, and the temperature level may reach 1500°C or more, after the ignition.