Study of charged particle motion in fields of different configurations for developing the concept of plasma separation o
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MA TECHNOLOGIES
Study of Charged Particle Motion in Fields of Different Configurations for Developing the Concept of Plasma Separation of Spent Nuclear Fuel V. P. Smirnova, A. A. Samokhina, N. A. Voronaa, b, and A. V. Gavrikova, b a
Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, Izhorskaya ul. 132, Moscow, 125412 Russia b Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Institutskii per. 9, Dolgoprudnyi, Moscow oblast, 141700 Russia email: [email protected] Received July 30, 2012; in final form, October 1, 2012
Abstract—The concept of plasma separation of spent nuclear fuel in a plane perpendicular to the magnetic field in an electric potential of special configuration is developed. A specific feature of the proposed approach consists in using an accelerating potential for reducing energy and angular spread of plasma ions at the entrance to the separator chamber and a potential well for the spatial separation of ions with different masses. The trajectories of ions of the substance imitating spent nuclear fuel are calculated. The calculations are per formed for azimuthal and axial magnetic fields and model electric field configurations corresponding to dif ferent geometries of the separator chamber. It is shown that, using magnetic fields with a characteristic strength of 1 kG and electric potentials of up to 1 kV inside a region with a linear size less than 100 cm, it is possible to separate ions of spent nuclear fuel with energies from 0.2 to 3 eV. The calculations were performed for a collisionless mode in the singleparticle approximation. Possible variants of the experimental facility for plasma separation of spent nuclear fuel are proposed. DOI: 10.1134/S1063780X13050103
INTRODUCTION At present, one of the most challenging problems of nuclear power engineering is processing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Such processing is necessary in order to implement the closed fuel cycle for more complete utilization of nuclear fuel by extracting minor actinides for repeated use of reprocessed fuel. Another, no less important, stimulating reason for the development and implementation of such a technol ogy is the ecological requirements aimed at reducing the radioactive waste disposal and the amount of transported highly active wastes. It should be noted that any civil technology for SNF reprocessing must satisfy the requirements of nuclear nonproliferation, i.e., must prevent extraction of plutonium, e.g., by altering the operating mode of the reprocessing equip ment. All these requirements are potentially met by the plasma method of SNF separation discussed since recently. This technology of SNF reprocessing [1–3] presumes transformation of the SNF substance into a lowtemperature plasma, followed by the spatial mass separation of ions. In contrast to electromagnetic sep arators, in this case, ions move under the conditions of neutralized space charge [3], which removes restric tions on the magnitude of the ion current and sharply increases the separation efficiency. The possibility of using pl
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