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Theoretical analysis of long-lived radioactive waste in pressurized water reactor

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Abstract

Background

The accelerator-driven subcritical transmutation system (ADS) is an advanced technology for the harmless disposal of nuclear waste. A theoretical analysis of the ingredients and content of nuclear waste, particularly long-lived waste in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), will provide important information for future spent fuel disposal.

Purpose

The present study is an attempt to investigate the yields of isotopes in the neutron-induced fission process and estimate the content of long-lived ingredients of nuclear waste in a PWR.

Method

We combined an approximation of the mass distribution of five Gaussians with the most probable charge model (\(Z_\text {p}\) model) to obtain the isotope yields in the \(^{235}\)U(n,f) and \(^{239}\)Pu(n,f) processes. The potential energy surface based on the concept of a di-nuclear system model was applied to an approximation using five Gaussian functions. A mathematical formula for the neutron spectrum in a PWR was established, and sets of differential equations were solved to calculate the content of long-lived nuclides in a PWR.

Results

The calculated isotopic fission yields were in good agreement with the experimental data. Except for \(^{238}\)U, the contents of \(^{239}\)Pu, \(^{240}\)Pu, \(^{241}\)Pu, \(^{242}\)Pu, \(^{237}\)Np, \(^{235}\)U, and \(^{236}\)U are predominant in the PWR after reaching a discharge burnup. In addition, some isotope pairs of heavy nuclei reach a similar value after stabilization, which can be explained by the decay chain and effective fission cross-sections. For fission fragments, we simulated the content evolution of some long-lived nuclides \(^{90}\)Sr, \(^{107}\)Pd,\(^{135}\)Cs, and their isobars \(^{90}\)Rb, \(^{107}\)Rh, and \(^{135}\)Xe during a fuel cycle in a PWR. The variations in the inventories of uranium and plutonium were in good agreement with the data in Daya Bay.

Conclusion

A new method is proposed for the prediction of the isotopic fission yield. The inventory of long-lived nuclides was analyzed and predicted after reaching a discharge burnup.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Li-Le Liu and Chao-Sheng Zhou for their useful discussions.

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  1. Ze-Xin Fang and Meng Yu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 519082, China

    Ze-Xin Fang, Meng Yu, Ying-Ge Huang, Jin-Bei Chen, Jun Su & Long Zhu

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Ze-Xin Fang, Meng Yu, and Long Zhu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ze-Xin Fang and Meng Yu. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Long Zhu.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11605296) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2016A030310208), and Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (No. 18lgpy87).

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Fang, ZX., Yu, M., Huang, YG. et al. Theoretical analysis of long-lived radioactive waste in pressurized water reactor. NUCL SCI TECH 32, 72 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-021-00911-0

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