TRANSMUTATION OF NUCLEAR WASTE: SAFETY ASPECTS

摘要

Several ideas for accelerator driven undercritical reactors have been presented during recent years. The technical breakthrough in accelerators which can generate intensive and highly energetic proton flows has made the concept feasible. Protons hit a target - fluid lead, tungsten or molten salt has been proposed - and then generate fast neutrons by spallation. These neutrons or moderated thermic ones will transmute, say, nuclear waste into short lived and stable isotopes. These isotopes must be separated from the remaining long lived isotopes using chemical and/or physical methods. The input material could be in an aqueous or molten salt form, each of these giving rise to technical and safety related problems. Together with the transmutation the plant will also generate energy. It should be pointed out that no real analysis of the economics of transmutation has been performed up to now.