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Jefferson Lab awarded $8M for accelerator technology to enable transmutation
The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is leading research supported by two Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) grants aimed at developing accelerator technology to enable nuclear waste recycling, decreasing the half-life of spent nuclear fuel.
Both grants, totaling $8.17 million in combined funding, were awarded through the Nuclear Energy Waste Transmutation Optimized Now (NEWTON) program, which aims to enable the transmutation of nuclear fuels by funding novel technologies for improving the performance of particle generation systems.
Avadhesh Kumar Sharma, Hui Liang, Ruicong Xu, Erdal Ozdemir, Shuichiro Miwa, Ryohei Terabayashi, Shunichi Suzuki, Marco Pellegrini, Shuichi Hasegawa, Nejdet Erkan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 12 | December 2023 | Pages 2030-2043
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2186675
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The recent Nuclear Regulation Authority evaluation report suggests that at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the concrete shield plugs above the primary containment vessel (PCV) have exceptionally high radiation levels in Units 2 and 3, which may increase the risk of radiation exposure during decommissioning operations. During the cleaning and disassembly of such radiation hot spots, it is expected that a large amount of submicron-sized radioactive aerosol particles will be generated, which may influence the decommissioning operation. In the present study, laser cleaning experiments were conducted at the University of Tokyo Aerosol Removal Test Facility to simulate aerosol scavenging during the laser cleaning process. The facility can reproduce multiple phenomena expected in actual plant decommissioning, such as laser decontamination and simultaneous mist and spraying operations. Through the work, we have developed effective aerosol dispersion control methods and strategies based on the joint use of water mist and water spray to reduce radiation risk in either laser cutting or other means of decontamination methods. Preliminary laser cleaning experiments on various coated samples were conducted to assess the aerosol removal efficiency using water droplets and mist. It was verified that the proposed method effectively cleans the radiation hot spots during the decommissioning process.