- published: 02 May 2015
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The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages. It consists of steps in the front end, which are the preparation of the fuel, steps in the service period in which the fuel is used during reactor operation, and steps in the back end, which are necessary to safely manage, contain, and either reprocess or dispose of spent nuclear fuel. If spent fuel is not reprocessed, the fuel cycle is referred to as an open fuel cycle (or a once-through fuel cycle); if the spent fuel is reprocessed, it is referred to as a closed fuel cycle.
Nuclear power relies on fissionable material that can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons. Examples of such materials include uranium and plutonium. Most nuclear reactors use a moderator to lower the kinetic energy of the neutrons and increase the probability that fission will occur. This allows reactors to use material with far lower concentration of fissile isotopes than nuclear weapons. Graphite and heavy water are the most effective moderators, because they slow the neutrons through collisions without absorbing them. Reactors using heavy water or graphite as the moderator can operate using natural uranium.
Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'burned' by nuclear fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuel can refer to the fuel itself, or to physical objects (for example bundles composed of fuel rods) composed of the fuel material, mixed with structural, neutron-moderating, or neutron-reflecting materials.
Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile elements that are capable of nuclear fission. When these fuels are struck by neutrons, they are in turn capable of emitting neutrons when they break apart. This makes possible a self-sustaining chain reaction that releases energy with a controlled rate in a nuclear reactor or with a very rapid uncontrolled rate in a nuclear weapon.
The most common fissile nuclear fuels are uranium-235 (235U) and plutonium-239 (239Pu). The actions of mining, refining, purifying, using, and ultimately disposing of nuclear fuel together make up the nuclear fuel cycle.
Not all types of nuclear fuels create power from nuclear fission. Plutonium-238 and some other elements are used to produce small amounts of nuclear power by radioactive decay in radioisotope thermoelectric generators and other types of atomic batteries. Also, light nuclides such as tritium (3H) can be used as fuel for nuclear fusion.
Nuclear technology is constantly in the news. So how exactly do you make nuclear fuel? Special thanks to Life Noggin for animating this video! Check them out: http://www.youtube.com/lifenoggin Read More: Fuel Cycle Facilities http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac.html “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulates uranium recovery facilities that mill uranium; fuel cycle facilities that convert, enrich, and fabricate it into fuel for use in nuclear reactors, and deconversion facilities that process the depleted uranium hexafluoride for disposal.” Uranium processing http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/619232/uranium-processing “Uranium (U), although very dense (19.1 grams per cubic centimetre), is a relatively weak, nonrefractory metal. Indeed, the metal...
See the inner workings of a Canadian nuclear power plant, find out where fuel rods come from, and discover what they do with their nuclear waste. The power plant in this video is owned by Bruce Power. http://www.brucepower.com/
Beginning on November 18 2013, workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began removing the nuclear fuel rods from the spent fuel pool in reactor 4. The power plant was destroyed in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami triggered three meltdowns at the nuclear power station. There was also an explosion in reactor building 4, and TEPCO has prioritized removing the spent fuel from that damaged building. The removal of the spent fuel is the first big step in the process of decommissioning the power station, a effort that will take 30 to 40 years.
Bob Alvaraz: US has 71,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel that is not properly protected
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Toshiba Corp. showed a device that will be used to pull fuel rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool inside reactor 3 building at the Fukushima No. 1 plant. Read more: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/18/national/toshiba-unveils-remote-controlled-device-remove-reactor-3-fuel-assemblies-fukushima-no-1/ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: http://goo.gl/mExQt7 VISIT OUR WEBSITE: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ LIKE US ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thejapantimes FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/japantimes LEARN ABOUT JAPAN TIMES DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: http://members.japantimes.co.jp/sub/
http://thoriumremix.com Candle wax has approximately the same energy density as gasoline. So why aren't we fueling our cars with tubes of solid candle wax? The advantages of liquid nuclear fuel over solid nuclear fuel are discussed. Sampled Materials: Coal Fired De Dion et Bouton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUgVCR_658M "Th03" is "Th" thorium documentary Part 3, iteration v395.
Westinghouse is the world's leading integrated supplier of nuclear fuel products and services.
Listen to the full audiobook: http://easyget.us/mabk/30/en/B01CIKNPL0/book Australias Nuclear Policy: Reconciling Strategic, Economic and Normative Interests critically re-evaluates Australias engagement with nuclear weapons, nuclear power and the nuclear fuel cycle since the dawn of the nuclear age. The authors develop a holistic conception of nuclear policy that extends across the three distinct but related spheres strategic, economic and normative that have arisen from the basic dual-use dilemma of nuclear technology. Existing scholarship on Australias nuclear policy has generally grappled with each of these spheres in isolation. In a fresh evaluation of the field, the authors investigate the broader aims of Australian nuclear policy and detail how successive Australian governments have...
Read your free e-book: http://copydl.space/mebk/50/en/B00HMQCUV2/book The nuclear fuel cycle is characterised by the wide range of scientific disciplines and technologies it employs. The development of ever more integrated processes across the many stages of the nuclear fuel cycle therefore confronts plant manufacturers and operators with formidable challenges. Nuclear fuel cycle science and engineering describes both the key features of the complete nuclear fuel cycle and the wealth of recent research in this important field.part one provides an introduction to the nuclear fuel cycle. Radiological protection, security and public acceptance of nuclear technology are considered, along with the economics of nuclear power. Part two goes on to explore materials mining, enrichment, fuel element...
Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry and Fuel Cycle Separations Presented by Vanderbilt University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and CRESP At the Nevada Site Office, Las Vegas Nevada July 19-21, 2011
Reprocessing and Recycle
Every generation or so, experts debate whether we need to do more to control the technologies that can be used to make fissile material for nuclear weapons or for peaceful nuclear energy. Most recently, concerns about capabilities in Iran and North Korea have raised the question: Is the current approach on the fuel cycle - leaving uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing capabilities in the hands of national governments - too risky on proliferation and security grounds? In early 2011, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the CSIS Proliferation Prevention Program launched the New Approaches to the Fuel Cycle (NAFC) project to develop an integrated approach to nuclear supply and demand that would improve the robustness of the nonproliferation regime without dampening the sustainability ...
In 2015 Dr. Helen Caldicott testified before Australia's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission on the impact of radiation & radioactive material on human health and the environment. Source: http://nuclearrc.sa.gov.au/videos/effects-and-threats-of-radiation-27102015-11am/ Transcript (includes all 3 speakers from the day): http://nuclearrc.sa.gov.au/app/uploads/mp/files/videos/files/151027-topic-11-day-1-transcript-full.pdf The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission will provide all interested persons with an opportunity to provide information and evidence that will help guide the Royal Commission in its decision making and formulation of the final report. This video's audio channel has been boosted 20dB from the original Royal Commission posting. In my own experience very quiet audio can mak...
The background presentations, audio files, kindle booklet and additional material can be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lpwxj1rn5migevz/NuclearFuelCyclePeterWilson.zip?dl=0 The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Chapter 2 by Peter Wilson former employee of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL). Reactors - What the various types of civil power reactor have in common and how they differ.
"The nuclear fuel cycle vs. the carbon cycle: Pu vs. C" Rodney C. Ewing, the Frank Stanton Professor in Nuclear Security in the FSI Center for International Security and Cooperation; professor of geological & environmental sciences, Stanford University Energy Seminar - June 2, 2014 wing’s research focuses on the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, mainly nuclear materials and the geochemistry of radionuclides with application to permanent geologic disposal. He is the past president of the International Union of Materials Research Societies. Ewing has written extensively on issues related to nuclear waste management and is a co-editor of Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future (1988) and Uncertainty Underground – Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste (2006). He received t...
Nuclear energy is the preferred option for electrical power generation in an increasing number of countries around the world. However the growth in nuclear power depends on completing /closing the nuclear fuel cycle and this depends on safe, economic reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and responsible storage and disposal of nuclear waste. Very few countries contemplating new nuclear build programmes have the expertise and infrastructure to complete the nuclear fuel cycle. France generates 80% of its electricity from nuclear power and has, arguably, the greatest expertise and experience of facilities for completing the fuel cycle. Électricité de France (EDF), which operates over 70 nuclear reactors worldwide, has chosen to recycle its fuel assemblies. The lecture examines the impo...
Sergey Yudintsev on "Management of High Level Waste Derived in Thorium Nuclear Fuel Cycle" from Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy & Geochemistry. Sergey Yudintsev examined both open waste cycle and closed waste cycle for thorium fuel cycle at Thorium Energy Conference 2012 (ThEC12) hosted by the International Thorium Energy Organisation (IThEO). http://itheo.org/ Video captured by Gordon McDowell for use in upcoming THORIUM REMIX iteration: http://ThoriumRemix.com/ This video is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 license (CC BY-SA 3.0). If you excerpt from it, link back to this original so people have access to lecture content in full, and proper context. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Darryl runs inexpensive vitrification experiments in his basement on how to best prepare nuclear waste for storage. Glassification is simpler & cheaper to fabricate than hot-pressed ceramics. Direct vitrification of fluoride-based salt wastes (as one would associate with LFTR) generates an inferior product because H3PO4 doesn't displace enough of the F - the product is multiphasic "glass ceramic" containing F salts which would rapidly leach in moving groundwater. Consequently, most of the fluoride should be removed before vitrification, possibly by boiling the waste salts to dryness with dilute nitric acid. Use of nitric acid has been experimentally verified - a single boil-down of AlkF salts with a slight stiochiometric excess of dilute nitric acid invariably volatized most of the flu...
MIT has completed a 3-year study on the Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle to address two overarching questions: (1.) What are the long-term desirable fuel cycle options and (2.) What are the implications for near-term policy choices? The study co-chairs, Professor Ernest J. Moniz, Director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and Professor Mujid Kazimi, Director of the MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems - and Dr. Charles Forsberg, Executive Director of the MIT Fuel Cycle Study, discussed the findings and recommendations. Recorded: September 16, 2010 | Center for Strategic and International Studies | Washington, D.C. Video/Text: Courtesy MIT