Traveling wave reactor
Fuel: Replace "enriched uranium-235" with "enriched uranium" for reasons apparent from the definition of enriched uranium. :P
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==Fuel== |
==Fuel== |
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TWRs use only a small amount (~10%) of enriched uranium |
TWRs use only a small amount (~10%) of [[enriched uranium]] or another fissile fuel to initiate the nuclear reaction. The remainder of the fuel consists of natural or depleted [[uranium-238]], which can generate power continuously for 40 years or more and remains sealed in the reactor vessel during that time. TWRs require substantially less fuel per kilowatt-hour of electricity than do [[light-water reactor]]s (LWRs), owing to TWRs' higher fuel burnup, energy density and [[thermal efficiency]]. A TWR also accomplishes most of its reprocessing within the reactor core. Spent fuel can be recycled after simple "melt refining", without the chemical separation of plutonium that is required by other kinds of breeder reactors. These features greatly reduce fuel and waste volumes while enhancing proliferation resistance. |
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Depleted uranium is widely available as a feedstock. Stockpiles in the United States currently contain approximately 700,000 metric tons, which is a byproduct of the [[nuclear enrichment|enrichment]] process.United States Department of Energy |
Depleted uranium is widely available as a feedstock. Stockpiles in the United States currently contain approximately 700,000 metric tons, which is a byproduct of the [[nuclear enrichment|enrichment]] process.{{cite web |publisher=United States Department of Energy |url=http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/mgmtuses/storage/index.cfm |title=Depleted UF6 Inventory and Storage Locations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827060702/http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/mgmtuses/storage/index.cfm |archive-date=2009-08-27 |access-date=1 October 2009}} TerraPower has estimated that the [[Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant|Paducah enrichment facility]] stockpile alone represents an energy resource equivalent to $100 trillion worth of electricity. TerraPower has also estimated that wide deployment of TWRs could enable projected global stockpiles of depleted uranium to sustain 80% of the world's population at U.S. per capita energy usages for over a millennium.{{cite conference |last1=Wood |first1=Lowell |title=Exploring The Italian Navigator's New World: Toward Economic, Full-Scale, Low-Carbon, Conveniently-Available, Proliferation-Robust, Renewable Energy Resources |conference=42nd Session of the Erice International Seminars on Planetary Emergencies |location=Erice, Italy |date=August 2009 |pages=523–541 |doi=10.1142/9789814327503_0048}} |
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In principle, TWRs are capable of burning spent fuel from LWRs, which is currently discarded as radioactive waste. Spent LWR fuel is mostly low enriched uranium (LEU) and, in a TWR fast-neutron spectrum, the neutron absorption cross-section of fission products is several orders of magnitude smaller than in a LWR thermal-neutron spectrum. While such an approach could actually bring about an overall reduction in nuclear waste stockpiles, additional technical development is required to realize this capability. |
In principle, TWRs are capable of burning spent fuel from LWRs, which is currently discarded as radioactive waste. Spent LWR fuel is mostly low enriched uranium (LEU) and, in a TWR fast-neutron spectrum, the neutron absorption cross-section of fission products is several orders of magnitude smaller than in a LWR thermal-neutron spectrum. While such an approach could actually bring about an overall reduction in nuclear waste stockpiles, additional technical development is required to realize this capability. |
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TWRs are also capable, in principle, of reusing their own fuel. In any given cycle of operation, only 20–35% of the fuel gets converted to an unusable form; the remaining metal constitutes usable fissile material. Recast and reclad into new driver pellets without chemical separations, this recycled fuel can be used to initiate fission in subsequent cycles of operation, thus displacing the need to enrich uranium altogether. |
TWRs are also capable, in principle, of reusing their own fuel. In any given cycle of operation, only 20–35% of the fuel gets converted to an unusable form; the remaining metal constitutes usable fissile material. Recast and reclad into new driver pellets without chemical separations, this recycled fuel can be used to initiate fission in subsequent cycles of operation, thus displacing the need to enrich uranium altogether. |
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The TWR concept is not limited to burning uranium with [[plutonium-239]] as the "initiator" in a |
The TWR concept is not limited to burning uranium with [[plutonium-239]] as the "initiator" in a {{SimpleNuclide|Uranium|238}}–{{SimpleNuclide|Plutonium|239}} cycle, but may also burn [[thorium]] with [[uranium-233]] as the "initiator" in a {{SimpleNuclide|Thorium|232|link=yes}}–{{SimpleNuclide|Uranium|233}} cycle.{{cite journal |last1=Rusov |first1=V.D. |last2=Linnik |first2=E.P. |last3=Tarasov |first3=V.A. |last4=Zelentsova |first4=T.N. |last5=Sharph |first5=I.V. |last6=Vaschenko |first6=V.N. |last7=Kosenko |first7=S.I. |last8=Beglaryan |first8=M.E. |last9=Chernezhenko |first9=S.A. |last10=Molchinikolov |first10=P.A. |last11=Saulenko |first11=S.I. |last12=Byegunova |first12=O.A. |title=Traveling Wave Reactor and Condition of Existence of Nuclear Burning Soliton-Like Wave in Neutron-Multiplying Media |journal=Energies |date=9 September 2011 |volume=4 |issue=9 |pages=1337–1361 |doi=10.3390/en4091337 |doi-access=free}} |
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==Traveling wave vs. standing wave== |
==Traveling wave vs. standing wave== |
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