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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
Catherine Romano, Ram Venkataraman, David Glasgow, Ben Roach
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 11 | November 2022 | Pages 1696-1703
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2070353
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The cross sections of 237Np and 238Np are important for accurate modeling and simulation of 238Pu in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Uncertainties in these cross sections can impact the ability to predict and optimize the target design and loading for 238Pu production targets. The effective capture cross section of 237Np in the location of pneumatic tube 1 in HFIR was measured as a first step in the measurement of the 238Np capture and fission cross sections. This paper describes the flux measurements, 237Np experiments, and data analysis of the 237Np capture cross section in HFIR.