Nuclear energy fast breeder reactors

P. V. Evans, ed.. Fast Breeder Reactors, Proceedings of the London Conference on Past Breeder Reactors of the British Nuclear Energy Society, May... 

LDH LEU LIBD LAW LET LILW LIP LLNL LLW LMA LMFBR LOI LREE L/S LTA LWR Layered double hydroxide Low enriched uranium Laser-induced breakdown detection Low-activity waste Linear energy transfer Low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste Lead-iron phosphate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Low-level nuclear waste Law of mass action Liquid-metal-cooled fast-breeder reactor Loss on ignition Light rare earth elements (La-Sm) Liquid-to-solid ratio (leachates) Low-temperature ashing Light water reactor... 

The projections are based on a recent forecast (Case B) by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) of nuclear power growth in the United States (2) and on fuel mass-flow data developed for light water reactors fueled with uranium (LWR-U) or mixed uranium and plutonium oxide (LWR-Pu), a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR), and two liquid-metal-cooled fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs). Nuclear characteristics of the fuels and wastes were calculated using the computer code ORIGEN (3). 

Should the probable reserves not be confirmed or be unusable for other reasons, a technology is available which solves the resource problem anyway, the fast breeder reactor. In fast breeder reactors the known uranium reserves would last for many hundreds of years, even in the event of a vast expansion in nuclear energy provision. 

For future nuclear energy production, considerable promise is held out by the fast breeder reactor techniques used to produce fissional materials from non-fissional ones. There is the corresponding problem of substantially increasing the levels of nuclear wastes that must be handled in such a way as to render them as harmless as possible to the environment. In this area of processing of nuclear fuels, ion-exchange techniques again are useful. After the production of 233U via the reaction ... 

Sodium, used as a heat transfer fluid, can most effectively remove heat from a fast breeder reactor. Development work on sodium handling at Argonne National Laboratory in 1945 led to the first turbine-electric power from nuclear energy in 1951. This paper presents the engineering mock-up of the experimental breeder reactor II and illustrates associated pumps, valves, and instrumentation. The past year s successful operation of the EBR-II mock-up has demonstrated that sodium technology is adequate for the job. Properly used, sodium may be the key to the problem of really using the elusive atom. 

In the current structure of nuclear power, light water reactors (LWRs) are predominant over a small number of heavy water reactors (HWRs), and even smaller number of fast breeder reactors (FBRs). However, an increase of FBR share can be predicted for the future, taking into account their unique properties. First of all, there is the capability of nuclear fuel breeding by involving into the fuel cycle. Secondly, there is the fast reactor s flexibility permitting its use as plutonium incinerators and minor actinides transmutation. Thus, unless new sources of energy are found, the development of nuclear power will be necessarily based on fast breeder reactors. 

Even a change to nuclear energy would help, since the overall cost of the raw material—the uranium ore—would be smaller due to the much smaller quantities required, and the security of supply should be less of a problem since the ore occurs throughout the world, particularly in North America, Southern Africa, Australia and Sweden. The much higher capital costs for the nuclear power station are an important factor which has to be taken into consideration. Prototype fast-breeder reactors have been operated in the U.K. for some years now and when fully developed they could substantially improve the economics of nuclear energy. This is because they enable more energy to be extracted from waste uranium and in addition utilize the plutonium produced in conventional reactors as fuel. 

The fast breeder reactors have been developed for at least five decades in the word up to now. Some countries have stopped their commercialized fast breeder reactor develogpient due to the electricity demands are proximately saturated, the Uranium maiket is still sufficient to meet their nuclear power, and especially, the conventional enei resources have not been exhausted in next some decades. For these countries, the estimation of the energy needs in the early of 70s is tolally diffirent with tody s reality. 

As a developping country, China has a ambitious demands to energy resources in next several decades. At that age will China have die same situation like today s situation of other developped countries the answer will be negative. China will not have enough suitable and, economical conventional resources, except nuclear. It is obviously that nuclear power in large scale needs fast breeder reactors, which just is the case of China... 

Therefore, the fast breeder technology has been developed in different countries on an experimental or pilot-project scale. It has been shown that the fast breeder reactor (FBR) can be operated safely. However, presently it is not attractive economically because sufficient is available to produce nuclear energy at a lower cost. The FBR is certainly an option for the future when other resources become more scarce. 

Over the past 30 years, there has been interest in utilizing thorium as a nuclear fuel because it is more abundant in the earth s crust than uranium. Also, all of the mined thorium is potentially usable in a reactor, compared with the 0.7% of natural uranium, so about 40 times the amount of energy per unit mass may theoretically be available (without recourse to fast breeder reactors). 

Most studies of the time evolution of the fuel cycle and the evolving mix of reactor types during future decades have been based on global (or national) nuclear energy demand scenario analyses which, up to now, have assumed the use of traditional reactor types, such as LWRs, pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), and fast breeder reactors (FBRs). Possible implications of small reactors without on-site refuelling on the transition timing and strategy have not yet been assessed extensively. 

With more neutrons available than in an ordinary reactor, the production of would increase and become greater than the consumption of This may be achieved by extra enrichment of the fuel and removal of the moderator. A fast breeder reactor is then obtained. The advantage of such a reactor is, as already mentioned in section 52.14.2, that both and u are used to produce heat. Up to 60 times more energy can be obtained compared with a conventional reactor [52.17]. There are however many serious political objections to the use of the breeder technology, as plutonium may be used to produce nuclear weapons. 

BNES. Fast Breeder Reactor Core and Fuel Structural Behaviour British Nuclear Energy Society, London. Conference held in Inverness 4.6 June 1990 Scotland. 

From the nuclear viewpoint, the most general subdivision of reactor types is on the basis of whether or not a moderator is deliberately introduced in order to slow the neutrons down to thermal energies. A basic distinction may therefore be made between thermal reactors, where a moderator is introduced, and fast breeder reactors, where the only moderation taking place is the relatively minor effect produced by neutron collisions with the coolant, fuel, and structural components of the reactor. 

The KALIMER has a breeding ratio (BR) of 1.05, which ensures a self-sustainable mode on fissile materials. The BMN-170 and the RBEC-M are fast breeder reactors with extended fuel breeding (BR>1) they are designed to ensure optimum balance of fissile materials in a multi-component nuclear energy system. The MDP design offers a breeding ratio of 1.16. 

The] promising perspective is expansion of nuclear energy using fast breeder reactors starting with enriched uranium fuel and step-by-step replacement with plutonium Juel. 

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