Nuclear chemistry breeder reactor

The first type corresponds directly to the aim of the technology and the connected favorable side effects. If one were to use the example of nuclear technology to show the differences, the advantage of an alternate energy source should be mentioned first, together with practically inexhaustible yield under certain circumstances (breeder reactors). The incidental production of radioactive isotopes, which can be applied in various ways in chemistry, medicine, sterilization, measuring technology, etc., is also noted as a positive effect. 

The fate of actinide elements introduced into the environment is of course not merely a scientific issue. The disposal of the by-products of the nuclear power industry has become a matter of public concern. For each 1000 kg of uranium fuel irradiated in a typical nuclear reactor for a three-year period, about 50 kg of uranium are consumed. In addition to a large amount of energy evolved as heat, 35 kg of radioactive fission products and 15 kg of plutonium and transplutonium elements are produced. Many of the fission-product nuclides are stable, but others are highly radioactive. All of the fission products are isotopes of elements whose chemical properties are well-understood. The transuranium elements produced in the reactor by neutron capture, however, have unique chemical properties, which are reasonably well-understood but are not always easily inferred by extrapolation from the chemistry of the classical elements. Plutonium is fissile and can be recycled as a nuclear fuel in conventional or breeder reactors, but the transplutonium elements are not fissile to the extent of supporting a nuclear chain reaction, and in any event they are produced in amounts too small to be of interest for large-scale uses. The transplutonium elements must therefore be secured and stored. 

With India s well-known program involving heavy water reactors and fast breeders, their early involvement with MSR development is surprising to some. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) was involved with official collaborations with ORNL from 1969 to 1975 on MSBR research. Facilities were built based on salt chemistry and, in particular, studies carried out on PuFj solubility remain of great value today (Venugopal, 2013). The 2013 Conference on Molten Salts in Nuclear Technology (CMSNT) held at BARC detailed India s renewed interest in a wide variety of MSR and FHR concepts (http //moltensaltindia. org/speakers-presentations/). 

Sodium occurs widely as NaCl in seawater and as deposits of halite in dried-up lakes etc. (2.6% of the Earth s crust). The element is obtained commercially via the Downs process by electrolysis of NaCl melts in which the melting point is reduced by the addition of calcium chloride sodium is produced at the steel cathode. The metal is extremely reactive, vigorously so with the halogens and also with water, in the latter case to give hydrogen and sodium hydroxide. It is used as a coolant in fast-breeder nuclear reactors. The chemistry of sodium is very similar to that of the other members of group 1. 

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