nuclear applications of accelerators; experience in the 'a' programs (apt, atw, aaa,...

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U N C L A S S I F I E DSlide 1

Nuclear Applications of Accelerators; Experience in the 'A' Programs

(APT, ATW, AAA, AFCI)

Dr. Laurie Waters

Group D-5, International Nuclear & Systems Analysis

Los Alamos National Lab

February 12, 2009

Fermi National Laboratory

LA-UR 09-00879

High Power, High Energy, Industrial Accelerators

Accelerator Production of Tritium

Accelerator Transmutation of Waste

Advanced Accelerator Applications (ADTF)

Accelerator Driven Systems

Advanced Fuel Cycle Initative

Power production

Radioisotope Production

Slide 2


U N C L A S S I F I E DLANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited

Facility Proton Beam Energy (MeV)

Average Current

Beam Power (MW)

Target

SINQ, PSI, Switzerland

590

1.8 mAmp

1.062

Zircaloy Rods

LANSCE Area A, LASREF Los Alamos

800

1 mAmp

0.800

Typically tungsten targets

LEDA, APT, Los Alamos, USA

6.7

100 mAmps

0.670

Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator

ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Lab, UK

800

200 Amps

0.16

Tantalum plate target

Lujan Center, LANSCE, Los Alamos, USA

800

100 Amps

0.08

Split tungsten target

WNR, LANSCE Los Alamos USA

800

30 Amps

0.003

Tungsten target

IPNS, Argonne National Lab, USA

500

15 Amps

0.008

Depleted Uranium plate target

Japanese Spallation Neutron Source May 30 2008

3 GeV

333 Amps

1.0

Mercury target

High Power Accelerators

*

* Beam Power (MW) = Energy (MeV) x Current (Amps)



Planned Facilities

Facility Proton Beam Energy (MeV)

Average Current

Beam Power (MW)

Target

APT, Savannah River, USA

1030 100 mAmps 103.0 Clad tungsten cylinder targets

ATW, USA ADTF

1000 (600)

30 mAmps 30.0 Lead-bismuth, other options

SNS, Oak Ridge, USA

1000 2 mAmps 2.0 Liquid mercury

European Spallation Source

1334

3.7 mAmps

5.0

Liquid mercury

LEDA

Tritium Production in the US (Tritium halflife is 12.3 years)

• 1953-1955 Tritium producing reactors online• 1976-1988 Need for new tritium production method recognized, many false starts,

controversy, no real progress• 1979 Three Mile Island• 1986 Chernobyl• 1987 N and C reactors shutdown• 1988 K, L and P shutdown• 1989 Plan to refurbish/restart K

New Production Reactor (NPR) project start - MHTGR (modular hi-temp gas- cooled reactor), HWR, LWR• 1990 Ebasco HWR and MHTGR selected• 1991 Arms reduction progress, only one option needed. K reactor leaks.• 1992 $1.5B spent on K reactor

$1.5B spent on NPR, program cancelled• 1993 K reactor restart cancelled• 1995 APT primary option, and CLWR is the backup• 1997 TVA proposed sale of of Bellefonte to DOE with Watts Bar/Sequoya service as

backup• 1998 “Interagency review” issued

Watts Bar service chosen

Slide 5

DOE Dual Track Tritium Strategy

Purchase Irradiation Services or Commercial Reactor

Build Advanced Light WaterReactor (Small or Large)

Build Modular High TemperatureGas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR)

Build Heavy Water Reactor (HWR)Build Proton Accelerator (APT)

system




Build Heavy Water Reactor (HWR)Build Proton Accelerator (APT)

system

CommercialReactor Option(s)


AcceleratorAccelerator

DOEDecision12/1998

APT Backup

APT Backup

10a

CLWRPrimary

CLWRPrimary

TVA Watts Bar and Sequoyah Power Reactors

DOE Tritium Production Options in December 1995



Extensive Testing of the Prototype Proton Injector Shows its Suitability for APT Operations

The injector produces the proton beam and gives it an initial energy

of 75 keV.

The APT injector prototype has demonstrated >110 mA of proton

current at 75 keV, with exceptionally good properties and

96% - 98% availability.

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV100 mA

RFQ CCDTL CCL SCL (ß = 0.64) SCL (ß = 0.82)

Injector

350 MHz 700 MHz RF Systems

97 MeV

TSF

T/B



The APT Radio Frequency Quadrupole is Similar to Others Used in Accelerators Worldwide

The 8-m long RFQ bunches the beam and gently accelerates to 6.7 MeV

It has 4 tuned segments, is an all-brazed structure, of copper, resonance

control by water temperature.

The RFQ has met the project milestone of extended cw operation at 100 mA.

Waveguide

Support

StructureRFQ

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV

100 mA


Injector


97 MeV

TSF

T/B



Normal-Conducting Copper Accelerating Structures Will Take the Beam from 6.7 to 211 MeV

Normal-conducting copper structures are used to accelerate the beam to 211 MeV

A coupled cavity drift tube linac (CCDTL) will be used to 100 MeV.

The section from 100 MeV to 211 MeV will be a coupled-cavity linac similar to the installation

at Fermilab shown on the right

Prototype cavities are under fabrication

Fermilab

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV

100 mA


Injector


97 MeV

TSF

T/B



Superconducting Niobium Cavities Take the Beam from 211 MeV to 1030 MeV

Repetitive sets of niobium cavities are used to accelerate the beam to the full energy.

The use of superconducting niobium saves 20% of the capital and electric power cost.

The APT design allows the use of only two cavity shapes, simplifying manufacturability

and lowering cost.

= 0.64 Cryomodule

Power Coupler

Waveguide

Vacuum Jacket

5 -cell Nb Cavity

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV

100 mA


Injector


97 MeV

TSF

T/B



Highly Efficient RF Generators Will Power the Plant

Radio Frequency power to accelerate the beam is supplied by klystrons

Three 1.2-MW, 350 MHz supplies have been installed to run the RFQ at LEDA

Two 1-MW, 700 MHz tubes for the rest of the accelerator are in operation

350 MHZ, 1.2 MW Klystron

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV

100 mA


Injector


97 MeV

TSF

T/B



The Target/Blanket Produces Tritium Efficiently Using a Tungsten and Lead Neutron Source

The Target/Blanket efficiently produces and converts 3He into tritium

The system operates at low temperature and pressure

The modular design allows periodic replacement of components

Tritium inventory is minimized by semi-continuous removal

Window

Tungsten Neutron Source

Lead Blanket Modules

Iron Shield

Cavity Vessel

Proton Beam

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV

100 mA


Injector


97 MeV

TSF

T/B

Tritium Separation Facility Recovers Tritium from Helium, Separates Tritium from Protium, and Ships Product

Remove spallation and activation products from gasRecover hydrogen isotopes using palladium-silver

permeatorsSeparate tritium from protium using cryogenic distillationPackage/ship tritium to SRS Tritium Facilities in DOT

packageSupply purified 3He to Target/BlanketConfine systems in gloveboxes to minimize environmental

releases

Tritium Processing Glovebox

Beamstop

Beam transport

211 MeV 471 MeV 1030 MeV 1700 MeV

100 mA


Injector


97 MeV

TSF

T/B

DOE Dual Track Tritium Strategy




Build Heavy Water Reactor (HWR)

Build Proton Accelerator (APT) system




Build Heavy Water Reactor (HWR)

Build Proton Accelerator (APT) system



Accelerator Accelerator

DOE

Decision

12/1998

APT Backup

APT Backup

10a

CLWRPrimary

CLWRPrimary

TVA Watts Bar and Sequoyah Power Reactors

DOE Tritium Production Options in December 1995



The APT Mission as Backup is to Complete ED&D and Preliminary Design of a Modular Plant

The Modular Design APT Plant features:

1.5 kg/year plant capacity with an option (shown) for an upgrade to a plant capacity of 3 kg/year or downgrade to 1 kg/year.

Design Target/Blanket and Tritium Processing for a maximum capacity of 3 kg/year

Injector Klystron Gallery

Maintenance Building

Heat Exchanger

Cryogenics Plant

Tritium Separation Building

Target/Blanket Building

1030 MeV Transport Line

1700 MeV Transport Line

Materials HandbookRevision 5, June 2006

• Alloy 718• 316L Stainless Steel• 6061 Aluminum• 316L to 6061-T6 Aluminum welds• Lead• Niobium• Graphite• RF Window Alumina• Tritium systems materials, coolants, fluids• 304L Stainless Steel• 9Cr-1Mo Ferritic/Martensitic Steel (T91)• Tantalum• Lead-Bismuth Eutectic

Mechanical Property Data NeededIn Beam Mechanical Property data neededRung materials

Alloy 718 Superplastic formAlloy 718 Annealed

Clad materialsAlloy 600 Annealed316L annealed

Tungsten Alloys (comp/bend)CVDW-PS & forgedW with La2O3

W-wroughtHIPPED Bonds

Thermal Conductivity Test-pure materialsBond measurements

ultrasonic measurements before/aftermeasure using thermogravimetric camera

Weld MaterialsSS-3 tensile,cut directly out of weld Compact Tension ?316/316, 718/718,

Out of Beam Mechanical Property data neededAl6061 (T6, T4?)

fracture toughnesstensile (high dose)

Al/SS Inertial welds, Al/Al welds

fracture toughnesstensile

Fatigue Crack Growth specimens

Al6061-T6

Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) specimens

316L, Alloy 718CT type specimens

Prestrained (PS) materialsAlloy 718-SPTensile

718Ann

Corr

WComp

WComp

Corr

FCG 316L

Weld SS-3718SP-PS

TC pure mat or Al6061-T6 FCG

Weld SS-3Al 6061-T6

CorrCorr

Al6061-T6

Al6061-T6

Weld SS-3

Al6061-T6 FCG

Weld SS-3

WBend

WBend

Corr

Corr

FCG 718 Ann

Corr

718SP

Alloy 600

Weld SS-3

Smart/Opt mat.

Tungsten Example results

Corrosion rates (SS316L)Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy with corrosion probes

Effect of beam structure

ANS-Boston Jun 24-28, 2007

Materials Test Station Baseline Design

• Monolithic design using HT-9 is main structural material and is Pb-Bi and D2O cooled.

• A split proton beam impinges on two targets, providing a center flux trap for fuel irradiations.

• Materials samples will be placed on the outsides of the targets.

• Target will be driven by 800-MeV, 1.35-mA proton beam.

• Operation at 75% capacity factor for 8 months of the year (4400 h/yr)


• The MTS target design will serve as a fast-flux irradiation facility for nuclear fuel and materials.

• The center flux trap will see a peak of 1.5x1015 n/cm2/s total flux (and 1.3x1015 n/cm2/s fast flux).

• Fuel clad temperatures will be near-prototypic (400-500C)

• Materials samples can be placed in the side modules which see less flux intensity but will have limited active temperature control.

• The high-energy tail from the spallation interactions will increase the He/dpa ratio depending on location in the target.


Facility Layout

Protonbeam


Proton Flux


Neutron Flux

• Neutron flux at the midplane varies from ~5 x 1014 to almost 1.3e15 n/cm2/s.



Point Defect Measurement



Comparisons with NRT and Molecular Dynamics (MDCASK)

10 -12

10 -11

10 -10

10 -9

10 -8

10 13 10 14 10 15 10 16

Cu-1

ExperimentsNRT ModelMD Simulations

Re

sisi

tivity

Inc

reas

e

Dose (p/cm2)

10 -12

10 -11

10 -10

10 -9

10 -8

10 13 10 14 10 15 10 16

Cu-1

ExperimentsNRT ModelMD Simulations

Res

isiti

vity

Incr

ease

Dose (p/cm2)

Decay Heat Measurement

Slide 29

Comparison of measured and calculated decay heat

0.1

1

10

100

1 10 100 1000

Elapsed time since beam-off (h)

De

ca

y H

ea

t (m

W)

Measurement

Calculation



The PMMA/Goodman Liquid Water PhantomTissue-Equivalent Ion Chambers



Measured Neutron Spectra at the Phantom

0.000

0.032

0.064

0.096

0.128

0.160

100 101 102 103

No Filter

5 cm Lead

10 cm Lead

40 cm Poly

60 cm Poly

n/p/str/

u

Energy (MeV)

Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Two Criteria support Enhance Long-Term Public Safety

Top-Level Goals Criteria Metrics Options for Meeting Criteria

I. Enhance long term public safety

I.1 Radiotoxicity Criterion: Reduce radiotoxicity of Commercial Spent Fuel

Reduce radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel below that of source uranium ore within 1,000 years

Transmute about 99.5% of the transuranics by minimizing separations and fuel fab lossess

I.2 Dose Criterion : Reduce Radiation dose to Future Inhabitants of Repository Region

Reduce maximum predicted dose to future inhabitants by at least 99% compared to current predictions

Transmute most neptunium, some technetium, and perhaps iodine. Place remaining inventories in superior waste forms.

Reduction in Predicted Dose by 99% requires:

Neptunium chain (245Cm, 241Pu, 241Am, 237N) reduction by 99.5 - 99.8%

Actinium chain (243Cm, 243Am, 239Pu ) reduction by 99.6 -99.9%

Radium Chain (242Pu, 238Pu, 234U) reduction by 98.9 - 99.6%

Thorium Chain (244Cm, 240Pu) reduction by 99.3 - 99.7%



US DOE AAA Program

Developing Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Technology for High-PowerSpallation Neutron TargetsN. Li, K. Woloshun, V. Tcharnotskaia, C. Ammerman, T. Darling, J. King, X. He, D. Harkleroad

The U.S. DOE Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program aims to develop an Accelerator-Driven Test Facility (ADTF) that provides a world-class test facility to assess technology options for the transmutation of spent nuclear fuel and waste, and provide a test bed for advanced nuclear technologies and applications.

The development and testing of a high power high flux spallation target as the external neutron source for the subcritical blanket is critical for ADTF and future Accelerator-driven Transmutation of Waste (ATW) applications.

Lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) emerged as a leading candidate for high-power spallation targets. LBE has exceptional chemical, thermal physical, nuclear and neutronic properties well suited for nuclear coolant and spallation target application.

The Materials Test Loop (MTL) is an essential part of the out-of-beam testing program in the U.S. MTL is a major step toward demonstrating the use of LBE on a scale representative of MW level spallation targets.



10-15

10-13

10-11

10-9

10-7

10-5

0.001

100 200 300 400 500 600 700

c_s (LBE)c_O,min (LBE)c_s (Pb)c_O,min (Pb)

Ox

yg

en

Co

nc

en

tra

tio

n,

wt%

T [oC]

Contamination

Oxygen-Controlled

Corrosion

Oxygen Control

PbO

Fe

Fe

3 O4

Pb LBESteel

Active control of oxygen in LBE can prevent steel corrosion and coolant contamination

N. Li, “Active Control of Oxygen in Molten Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Systems to Prevent Steel Corrosion and Coolant Contamination”, LA-UR-99-4696, to appear in Journal of Nuclear Materials



Corrosion/precipitation rate in the MTL with oxygen control and without oxygen. Rates for oxygen controlled LBE are multiplied with 100 and 1000 respectively for two oxygen levels.

Achievable Reduction of Corrosion and Precipitation through Active Oxygen Control

X.Y.He, N. Li and M. Mineev, “A Kinetic Model for Corrosion and Precipitation in Non-isothermal LBE Flow Loop”, Journal of Nuclear Materials 297 (2001) 214-219


U N C L A S S I F I E DLANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibitedMTL Heater Section

MTL Upper Loop Section

MTL Front View

MTL DAC Front Panel



Isotope Production Facility at LANSCE

Fall 2003, new facility 100 MeV H+ beam, up to 200 microamps Aluminum 26 (aluminum tracer), Silicon 32 are unique to LANL

Strontium-82 is supplied to GE Healthcare for use in the CardioGen(r) rubidium-82 generator. The generators in turn are supplied to hospitals and medical laboratories to support cardiac imaging through Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The generator technology was developed by the DOE Medical Radioisotope Program during the 1970s and 1980s, and the technology was transferred to private industry in the late 1980s. The DOE continues to be one of the principle suppliers of the strontium-82 for the generators. Strontium-82 is produced by bombarding rubidium chloride or rubidium metal with protons with energies between 40 and 70 MeV.

Germanium-68 is used for calibration sources for medical imaging equipment. Hospitals and research institutions across the nation use such sources every day to calibrate PET scanners. Without such calibrations the usefulness of equipment for medical imaging and research would be severely limited. Germanium-68 is produced by bombarding gallium metal with protons with energies between 20 and 70 MeV.

Silicon-32 is used in oceanographic research to study the silicon cycle in marine organisms, principally diatoms. Its use in this application has dramatically improved the timeliness and quality of data available in this area of environmental research. Silicon-32 is produced by high-energy (> 90 MeV) proton bombardment of sodium chloride.

Regulatory considerations

• Accelerator-driven attractive because of ‘inherent safety’• Subcritical systems• Turn off the beam, problem goes away• Don’t get out of extensive safety analysis.• 10CFR831

Slide 41

Funding

• GNEP (Global Nuclear Energy Partnership)• Int’l partnership to promote the use of nuclear power and close the nuclear fuel cycle to reduce waste and

proliferation risk. ‘Bypass’ Yucca Mountain.• Promoted fast reactor technology, but didn’t go over well with the utilities (who want to concentrate on GEN3

reactors).• No demonstration projects• Basically dead

• Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI)• Focused R&D effort• Develop fuel systems for GEN IV reactors

• Reduce high level waste volume• Greatly reduce long-lived and highly radiotoxic elements• Relcaim energy content of spent nuclear fuel

Slide 42

nuclear applications of accelerators; experience in the 'a' programs (apt, atw, aaa,...

Documents

reactor leaks

high energy

los alamos national

nnsau n c

temp gas cooled reactor

initial energy

apt injector prototype

new tritium production