ISOTOPIC TAILORED MATERIALS FOR NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

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Authors & Affiliations

Khorasanov G.L., Ivanov A.P., Blokhin A.I.
Russian Federation State Scientific Centre — A.I. Leipunsky Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia

Abstract

The advance in production of great quantities of stable isotopes permits to expect a possibility and economical acceptance of using structural and functional nuclear materials with changed chemical element isotopic contents. Last years, authors have published several proposals dedicated to using isotopic tailored materials for Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs) and Fast Reactors (FRs).

In this paper, it is shown that for the ADS target consisted from liquid lead or the lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) the usage of Pb-208 instead of Pb-nat leads to essential hardening the spallation neutron spectrum due to low moderating properties of Pb-208. In subcritical and critical reactors with lead or the LBE coolant the usage of Pb-208 could give an essential economy of the breeding fuel and core volume due to low neutron absorbing properties of Pb-208 in the intermediate region of neutron energies. The high costs of the reactor fuel and of the high energy proton beam permit to expect that the potential economy in using Pb-208 will make its price, for example less than 2860 USD/kg, as an acceptable price for the next generation of ADS and FR burners with the minimized coolant volume.

The issues of creating low swelling high nickel steels and alloys used as materials for the FR cladding are also considered on the basis of nickel depleting with Ni-58 isotope, the source of helium creation in steels via Ni-58(n,γ)Ni-59 and Ni-59(n,α)Fe-56 reactions.

The problems of using Mo-100 as a matrix in an uranium free fuel for ADSs and FRs dedicated to Minor Actinides (MA) burning are also analyzed.

Keywords
structural and functional nuclear materials, nuclear engineering, changed chemical element isotopic contents, target, subcritical reactors blanket, coolant, Pb-208, Pb-206, Ni–62, Mb–100

Article Text (in Russian, PDF)

References

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UDC 621.039

Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. Series: Nuclear Constants", issue 1-2, 2006

BROND-3.1

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ISOTOPIC TAILORED MATERIALS FOR NUCLEAR ENGINEERING