• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.199-206
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• 2012

Using fast neutron Generation IV reactors, recycling of americium and curium may become feasible. The detrimental impact of americium on safety parameters has recently been quantified in terms of a power penalty for surviving a given set of transients in sodium fast reactors. In the present paper, a review of the physical reasons for the adverse effect of americium is provided, and different Gen-IV technologies are assessed with respect to their capability of hosting americium in the fuel.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.107-113
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• 2010

본 연구에서는 pH 변화에 따른 카올리나이트-휴믹산, 카올리나이트-아메리슘 및 휴믹산-아메리슘 등의 이성분계 흡착반응을 조사하였다. 카올리나이트의 물리화학적 특성을 조사한 후, 휴믹산농도, 이온강도 및 pH 변화에 따른 카올리나이트에 휴믹산의 흡착실험을 하였다. pH 및 HA 농도가 증가함에 따라 KA에 대한 HA의 흡착율이 감소하였으나, 이온강도가 증가함에 따라 HA의 흡착율이 증가하였다. 또한 pH 변화에 따른 카올리나이트와 아메리슘과 흡착반응 및 아메리슘과 휴믹산과의 흡착반응도 연구하였다. 산성 및 중성영역에서는 Am이 HA에 쉽게 흡착되었으나, 염기성 영역에서는 정전기적 반발력으로 HA에 대한 Am 흡착이 감소되었다. 본 연구 결과는 수환경에서 휴믹산에 의한 아메리슘 흡착거동 특성을 이해하는데 활용이 가능하다.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.399-410
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• 2022

The solubility and species distribution of radionuclides in groundwater are essential data for the safety assessment of deep underground spent nuclear fuel (SNF) disposal systems. Americium is a major radionuclide responsible for the long-term radiotoxicity of SNF. In this study, the solubility of americium compounds was evaluated in synthetic groundwater (SynDB3), simulating groundwater from the DB3 site of the KAERI Underground Research Tunnel. Geochemical modeling was performed using the ThermoChimie_11a thermochemical database. Concentration of dissolved Am(III) in Syn-DB3 in the pH range of 6.4-10.5 was experimentally measured under over-saturation conditions by liquid scintillation counting over 70 d. The absorption spectra recorded for the same period suggest that Am(III) colloidal particles formed initially followed by rapid precipitation within 2 d. In the pH range of 7.5-10.5, the concentration of dissolved Am(III) converged to approximately 2×10^-7 M over 70 d, which is comparable to that of the amorphous AmCO₃OH(am) according to the modeling results. As the samples were aged for 70 d, a slow equilibrium process occurred between the solid and solution phases. There was no indication of transformation of the amorphous phase into the crystalline phase during the observation period.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권4호
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• pp.787-791
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• 2017

Americium-beryllium (Am-Be; n, ${\gamma}$) is a neutron emitting source used in various research fields such as chemistry, physics, geology, archaeology, medicine, and environmental monitoring, as well as in the forensic sciences. It is a mobile source of neutron activity (20 Ci), yielding a small thermal neutron flux that is water moderated. The aim of this study is to develop a model to increase the neutron thermal flux of a source such as Am-Be. This study achieved multiple advantageous results: primarily, it will help us perform neutron activation analysis. Next, it will give us the opportunity to produce radio-elements with short half-lives. Am-Be single and multisource (5 sources) experiments were performed within an irradiation facility with a paraffin moderator. The resulting models mainly increase the thermal neutron flux compared to the traditional method with water moderator.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권8호
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• pp.2454-2463
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• 2021

The objective of this research is to the use of americium (AmO₂) as a burnable absorber effectively instead of conventional gadolinium (Gd₂O₃) for VVER-1200 reactor by analyzing its impacts on reactivity, power peaking factor (PPF), safety factor, and quality of the spent fuel. The assembly is burned to 60 GWd/t by using SRAC-2006 code and JENDL-4.0 data library for finding the optimum amount and effective way of using AmO₂ as a burnable absorber. From these studies, it is found that AmO₂ can decrease the excess reactivity like Gd₂O₃ without changing the criticality life span and enrichment of ²³⁵U. A homogeneous mixture of the 0.20% AmO₂+ 4.95% enriched UO₂ fuel rod (model MF-4) decreases the PPF than the reference assembly. The use of AmO₂+UO₂ in the integral burnable absorber (IBA) rod or the outer layer could also decrease the PPF up to 10 GWd/t but increases rapidly after 30 GWd/t, which could be a safety threat. The fuel temperature coefficient and void coefficient of the model MF-4 are the same as the reference assembly. In addition, 22% of initially loaded Am are burning effectively and contributing to the power production.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2018년도 추계학술논문요약집
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• pp.594-595
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• 2018

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2011년도 추계학술논문요약집
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• pp.363-364
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• 2011

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.9-20
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• 2008

Since plutonium accounts for 40-50% of the power produced by uranium fuels, spent fuel contains only residual plutonium. Management of this plutonium is one of the aspects influencing the choice of a fuel cycle back-end option: reprocessing, direct disposal or wait-and-see. Different grades and qualities of plutonium exist depending from their specific generation conditions; all are valuable fissile material. Safeguard authorities watch the inventories of civil plutonium, but access to those data is restricted. Independent evaluations have led to an estimated current inventory of 220t plutonium in total (spent fuel, separated civil plutonium and military plutonium). If used as MOX fuel, it would be sufficient to feed all the PWRs and BWRs worldwide during 7 years or to deploy a FBR park corresponding to 150% of today' s installed nuclear capacity worldwide, which could then be exploited for centuries with the current stockpile of depleted and spent uranium. The energy potential of plutonium deteriorates with storage time of spent fuel and of separated plutonium, due to the decay of $^{241}Pu$, the best fissile isotope, into americium, a neutron absorber. The loss of fissile value of plutonium is more pronounced for usage in LWRs than in FBR. However, keeping the current plutonium inventory for an expected future deployment of FBRs is counterproductive. Recycling plutonium reduce the required volume for final disposal in an underground repository and the cost of final disposal. However, the benefits of utilizing an energy resource and of reducing final disposal liabilities are not the only aspects that determine the choice of a back-end policy.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권4호
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• pp.1277-1283
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• 2021

It is important for operators of poly-pipelines in petroleum industry to continuously monitor characteristics of transferred fluid such as its type and amount. To achieve this aim, in this study a dual energy gamma attenuation technique in combination with artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed to simultaneously determine type and amount of four different petroleum by-products. The detection system is composed of a dual energy gamma source, including americium-241 and barium-133 radioisotopes, and one 2.54 cm × 2.54 cm sodium iodide detector for recording the transmitted photons. Two signals recorded in transmission detector, namely the counts under photo peak of Americium-241 with energy of 59.5 keV and the counts under photo peak of Barium-133 with energy of 356 keV, were applied to the ANN as the two inputs and volume percentages of petroleum by-products were assigned as the outputs.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.397-410
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• 2018

아메리슘(Am)은 사용후핵연료의 장기 방사성 독성에 크게 영향을 주기 때문에 고준위 방사성 폐기물 처분의 장기 안전성 평가에 필수적으로 고려되어야 할 원소이다. 분광학적 방법을 이용한 일부 악티나이드 원소의 화학반응 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있는 반면, 아메리슘에 대한 연구는 아직까지 미비한 상황이다. 이 연구에서는 고순도의 시료를 필요로 하는 화학반응 연구를 위하여 $^{241}Am$ 시료를 정제한 후, 액체섬광계수기와 감마선 및 알파선 스펙트럼을 이용하여 정량과 정성분석을 하였다. 액체 광도파 모세관 셀을 이용한 고감도의 UV-Vis 흡수 분광학과 시간분해 레이저 형광 분광학을 이용하여 Am(III) 가수분해물과 옥살레이트(oxalate, Ox) 착물반응을 조사하였다. 산성조건에서 $Am^{3+}$은 503 nm에서 최대 흡수봉우리를 보이며, 몰흡광계수는 $424{\pm}8cm^{-1}{\cdot}M^{-1}$임을 확인하였다. 중성 이상의 pH 조건에서 형성되는 $Am(OH)_3(s)$ 콜로이드 입자에서는 506-507 nm 파장에서 최대 흡수봉우리가 관측되었다. ${Am(Ox)_3}^{3-}$ 착물은 $Am^{3+}$에 비교하여 흡수 및 발광스펙트럼이 각각 4와 5 nm정도 장파장으로 이동하였고 몰흡광계수와 발광세기도 크게 증가하였다. ${Am(Ox)_3}^{3-}$의 발광수명은 23에서 56ns으로 증가하였고 이는 Am(III)의 내부권에 결합하고 있던 약 여섯 개의 물분자가 옥살레이트의 카르복실기로 치환되었음을 의미한다. 이 결과로부터 ${Am(Ox)_3}^{3-}$은 각 옥살레이트 리간드가 두 자리 결합(bidentate)을 하고 있다는 것을 제안하였다.