IPAC2016 - Classification: 08 Applications of Accelerators / U03 Transmutation and Energy Production

Paper	Title	Page
TUPMY009	MuSim, a Graphical User Interface for Multiple Simulation Programs	1559
	T.J. Roberts, M.A.C. Cummings, R.P. Johnson Muons, Inc, Illinois, USA D.V. Neuffer Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, USA
	MuSim is a new user-friendly program designed to interface to many different particle simulation codes, regardless of their data formats or geometry descriptions. It presents the user with a compelling graphical user interface that includes a flexible 3-D view of the simulated world plus powerful editing and drag-and-drop capabilities. All aspects of the design can be parametrized so that parameter scans and optimizations are easy. It is simple to create plots and display events in the 3-D viewer (with a slider to vary the transparency of solids), allowing for an effortless comparison of different simulation codes. Simulation codes: G4beamline, MAD-X, and MCNP; more coming. Many accelerator design tools and beam optics codes were written long ago, with primitive user interfaces by today's standards. MuSim is specifically designed to make it easy to interface to such codes, providing a common user experience for all, and permitting the construction and exploration of models with very little overhead. For today's technology-driven students, graphical interfaces meet their expectations far better than text-based tools, and education in accelerator physics is one of our primary goals.
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TUPOY019	Geant4 Simulations of Proton-induced Spallation for Applications in ADSR Systems	1943
SUPSS114	use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code
	S.C. Lee IIAA, Huddersfield, United Kingdom C. Bungau, R. Cywinski University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
	Neutron spallation is an efficient process for producing intense neutron fluxes that can be exploited in Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactors (ADSRs) for energy production and the transmutation of nuclear waste. In order to assess the feasibility of spallation driven fission and transmutation we have simulated proton induced neutron production using GEANT4, initially benchmarking our simulations against published experimental neutron spectra produced from a thick lead target bombarded with 0.5 and 1.5 GeV protons. The Bertini and INCL models available in GEANT4, coupled with the high precision (HP) neutron model, are found to adequately reproduce the published experimental data. Given the confidence in the GEANT4 simulations provided by this benchmarking we have then proceeded to simulate neutron production as a function of target geometry and thence to some preliminary studies of neutron production in an ADSR with a geometry similar to that of the proposed Belgian MYRRHA project. This paper presents the results of our GEANT4 benchmarking and simulations.
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TUPOY021	Characterisation of the Spectra of Spallation Neutron Sources through Modelling	1950
	R.J. Barlow, A. Rummana IIAA, Huddersfield, United Kingdom R. Seviour University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
	We characterise the neutron flux and energy spectra produced by protons on a lead target. This may enable studies of the neutronics of an ADSR, to be separated from the higher energy spallation processes, in order to explore te potential of ADSR as a better alternative for energy production, safety and waste transmutation. We consider a range of proton energies, and show how the numbers of neutrons produced can be fitted by some simple functions of the proton energy, as can the spatial and energy distributions. These calculations were performed in both MCNPX and Geant4 and we compare and benchmark the low energy neutron spectra obtained by MCNPX code and a Monte Carlo Code Geant4 against each other. Discrepancies were found for the low energy neutron spectrum, but by using different models as calculation options for low energy neutrons in Geant4, this disagreement has been significantly reduced.
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TUPOY029	Gem*Star Consortium Proposal to Build a Demonstration Accelerator Driven System	1973
	R.P. Johnson, R.J. Abrams, M.A.C. Cummings, T.J. Roberts Muons, Inc, Illinois, USA R.B. Vogelaar Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
	The GEMSTAR Consortium of four companies, two universities, and two US national laboratories has formed MuSTAR, a new company, to fund and build a profitable pilot plant to demonstrate the advantages of subcritical molten-salt-fueled nuclear reactors driven by superconducting RF proton linacs. The GEMSTAR multipurpose reactor design features new accelerator power capabilities, an internal spallation neutron target, and high temperature molten salt fuel with continuous purging of volatile radioactive fission products such that the reactor contains less than a critical mass and almost a million times fewer volatile radioactive fission products than conventional reactors. GEMSTAR is a reactor that without redesign will burn spent nuclear fuel (SNF), natural uranium, thorium, or surplus weapons material. It will operate without the need for a critical core, fuel enrichment, or reprocessing, making it an excellent design overall, and a strong candidate for export. We describe the design and plans for funding a pilot plant that could profitably dispose of excess weapons-grade plutonium.
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TUPOY042	Schemes for the Accelerator-driven System	1995
	T.-Y. Lee, H.-S. Lee, S. Shin PAL, Pohang, Kyungbuk, Republic of Korea
	Accelerator-Driven system (ADS) is considered the fu-ture nuclear reactor. In principle, it is safer and creates less waste than the conventional nuclear reactor, and provides the transmutation function that converts spent fuel into short-lived elements. However, to fully realize this system, a huge proton accelerator (typically, 1 GeV beam energy and over 10 MW beam power) with ex-tremely high operational stability is necessary. This paper discusses how the currently available technology can be applied for nuclear transmutation.
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TUPOY043	GEM*STAR Accelerator-Driven Subcritical System for Improved Safety, Waste Management, and Plutonium Disposition	1998
	M.A.C. Cummings, R.P. Johnson, T.J. Roberts Muons, Inc, Illinois, USA
	Operation of high-power SRF particle accelerators at two US national laboratories allows us to consider a less-expensive nuclear reactor that operates without the need for a critical core, fuel enrichment, or reprocessing. A multipurpose reactor design that takes advantage of this new accelerator capability includes an internal spallation neutron target and high-temperature molten-salt fuel with continuous purging of volatile radioactive fission products. The reactor contains less than a critical mass and almost a million times fewer volatile radioactive fission products than conventional reactors like those at Fukushima. We describe GEMSTAR , a reactor that without redesign will burn spent nuclear fuel, natural uranium, thorium, or surplus weapons material. A first application is to burn 34 tonnes of excess weapons grade plutonium as an important step in nuclear disarmament under the 2000 Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement **. The process heat generated by this W-Pu can be used for the Fischer-Tropsch conversion of natural gas and renewable carbon into 42 billion gallons of low-CO2-footprint, drop-in, synthetic diesel fuel for the DOD.
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TUPOY044	Energy Efficiency of High Power Accelerators for ADS Applications	2001
	M. Haj Tahar, F. Méot, S. Peggs BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
	Funding: Work supported by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy. One important issue identified by the 2014 comprehensive nuclear fuel cycle Evaluation & Screening report* that was chartered by the US Department of Energy was the impact of the electricity required to operate the accelerator on the overall efficiency of an Accelerator Driven System (ADS).The objective of this paper is to contribute some understanding regarding that issue. Then, by looking at several options of existing and projected accelerator technologies for ADS, we evaluate the impact of the technology choice on the efficiency of a conventional ADS facility, in view of investigating the limitations and where there is room for improvement. * R. Wigeland et al, Nuclear fuel cycle evaluation and screening'final report: Appendix B, Comprehensive set of fuel cycle options. Idaho National Laboratory Technical Report INL/EXT-14-31465 (2014).
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TUPOY045	Effect of the Beam Time Structure on the Neutronics of an Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactor	2004
	M. Haj Tahar, F. Méot BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
	Funding: Work supported by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy. When designing a high power accelerator for an ADSR, it is important to optimize the beam parameters to be compatible with the steady state character of the reactor operation and to define an adequate and safe startup procedure. In this study we investigate the impact of the beam time structure on the kinetic behavior of the sub-critical core and derive a general relationship between the time evolution of the neutron population and the proton beam.
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Paper

Title

Page

MuSim, a Graphical User Interface for Multiple Simulation Programs

1559

T.J. Roberts, M.A.C. Cummings, R.P. Johnson
Muons, Inc, Illinois, USA
D.V. Neuffer
Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, USA

MuSim is a new user-friendly program designed to interface to many different particle simulation codes, regardless of their data formats or geometry descriptions. It presents the user with a compelling graphical user interface that includes a flexible 3-D view of the simulated world plus powerful editing and drag-and-drop capabilities. All aspects of the design can be parametrized so that parameter scans and optimizations are easy. It is simple to create plots and display events in the 3-D viewer (with a slider to vary the transparency of solids), allowing for an effortless comparison of different simulation codes. Simulation codes: G4beamline, MAD-X, and MCNP; more coming. Many accelerator design tools and beam optics codes were written long ago, with primitive user interfaces by today's standards. MuSim is specifically designed to make it easy to interface to such codes, providing a common user experience for all, and permitting the construction and exploration of models with very little overhead. For today's technology-driven students, graphical interfaces meet their expectations far better than text-based tools, and education in accelerator physics is one of our primary goals.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY019

Geant4 Simulations of Proton-induced Spallation for Applications in ADSR Systems

1943

SUPSS114

use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code

S.C. Lee
IIAA, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
C. Bungau, R. Cywinski
University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

Neutron spallation is an efficient process for producing intense neutron fluxes that can be exploited in Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactors (ADSRs) for energy production and the transmutation of nuclear waste. In order to assess the feasibility of spallation driven fission and transmutation we have simulated proton induced neutron production using GEANT4, initially benchmarking our simulations against published experimental neutron spectra produced from a thick lead target bombarded with 0.5 and 1.5 GeV protons. The Bertini and INCL models available in GEANT4, coupled with the high precision (HP) neutron model, are found to adequately reproduce the published experimental data. Given the confidence in the GEANT4 simulations provided by this benchmarking we have then proceeded to simulate neutron production as a function of target geometry and thence to some preliminary studies of neutron production in an ADSR with a geometry similar to that of the proposed Belgian MYRRHA project. This paper presents the results of our GEANT4 benchmarking and simulations.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY021

Characterisation of the Spectra of Spallation Neutron Sources through Modelling

1950

R.J. Barlow, A. Rummana
IIAA, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
R. Seviour
University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

We characterise the neutron flux and energy spectra produced by protons on a lead target. This may enable studies of the neutronics of an ADSR, to be separated from the higher energy spallation processes, in order to explore te potential of ADSR as a better alternative for energy production, safety and waste transmutation. We consider a range of proton energies, and show how the numbers of neutrons produced can be fitted by some simple functions of the proton energy, as can the spatial and energy distributions. These calculations were performed in both MCNPX and Geant4 and we compare and benchmark the low energy neutron spectra obtained by MCNPX code and a Monte Carlo Code Geant4 against each other. Discrepancies were found for the low energy neutron spectrum, but by using different models as calculation options for low energy neutrons in Geant4, this disagreement has been significantly reduced.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY029

Gem*Star Consortium Proposal to Build a Demonstration Accelerator Driven System

1973

R.P. Johnson, R.J. Abrams, M.A.C. Cummings, T.J. Roberts
Muons, Inc, Illinois, USA
R.B. Vogelaar
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

The GEM*STAR Consortium of four companies, two universities, and two US national laboratories has formed Mu*STAR, a new company, to fund and build a profitable pilot plant to demonstrate the advantages of subcritical molten-salt-fueled nuclear reactors driven by superconducting RF proton linacs. The GEM*STAR multipurpose reactor design features new accelerator power capabilities, an internal spallation neutron target, and high temperature molten salt fuel with continuous purging of volatile radioactive fission products such that the reactor contains less than a critical mass and almost a million times fewer volatile radioactive fission products than conventional reactors. GEM*STAR is a reactor that without redesign will burn spent nuclear fuel (SNF), natural uranium, thorium, or surplus weapons material. It will operate without the need for a critical core, fuel enrichment, or reprocessing, making it an excellent design overall, and a strong candidate for export. We describe the design and plans for funding a pilot plant that could profitably dispose of excess weapons-grade plutonium.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY042

Schemes for the Accelerator-driven System

1995

T.-Y. Lee, H.-S. Lee, S. Shin
PAL, Pohang, Kyungbuk, Republic of Korea

Accelerator-Driven system (ADS) is considered the fu-ture nuclear reactor. In principle, it is safer and creates less waste than the conventional nuclear reactor, and provides the transmutation function that converts spent fuel into short-lived elements. However, to fully realize this system, a huge proton accelerator (typically, 1 GeV beam energy and over 10 MW beam power) with ex-tremely high operational stability is necessary. This paper discusses how the currently available technology can be applied for nuclear transmutation.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY043

GEM*STAR Accelerator-Driven Subcritical System for Improved Safety, Waste Management, and Plutonium Disposition

1998

M.A.C. Cummings, R.P. Johnson, T.J. Roberts
Muons, Inc, Illinois, USA

Operation of high-power SRF particle accelerators at two US national laboratories allows us to consider a less-expensive nuclear reactor that operates without the need for a critical core, fuel enrichment, or reprocessing. A multipurpose reactor design that takes advantage of this new accelerator capability includes an internal spallation neutron target and high-temperature molten-salt fuel with continuous purging of volatile radioactive fission products. The reactor contains less than a critical mass and almost a million times fewer volatile radioactive fission products than conventional reactors like those at Fukushima. We describe GEMSTAR , a reactor that without redesign will burn spent nuclear fuel, natural uranium, thorium, or surplus weapons material. A first application is to burn 34 tonnes of excess weapons grade plutonium as an important step in nuclear disarmament under the 2000 Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement **. The process heat generated by this W-Pu can be used for the Fischer-Tropsch conversion of natural gas and renewable carbon into 42 billion gallons of low-CO2-footprint, drop-in, synthetic diesel fuel for the DOD.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY044

Energy Efficiency of High Power Accelerators for ADS Applications

2001

M. Haj Tahar, F. Méot, S. Peggs
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA

Funding: Work supported by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy.
One important issue identified by the 2014 comprehensive nuclear fuel cycle Evaluation & Screening report* that was chartered by the US Department of Energy was the impact of the electricity required to operate the accelerator on the overall efficiency of an Accelerator Driven System (ADS).The objective of this paper is to contribute some understanding regarding that issue. Then, by looking at several options of existing and projected accelerator technologies for ADS, we evaluate the impact of the technology choice on the efficiency of a conventional ADS facility, in view of investigating the limitations and where there is room for improvement.
* R. Wigeland et al, Nuclear fuel cycle evaluation and screening'final report: Appendix B, Comprehensive set of fuel cycle options. Idaho National Laboratory Technical Report INL/EXT-14-31465 (2014).

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPOY045

Effect of the Beam Time Structure on the Neutronics of an Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactor

2004

M. Haj Tahar, F. Méot
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA

Funding: Work supported by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy.
When designing a high power accelerator for an ADSR, it is important to optimize the beam parameters to be compatible with the steady state character of the reactor operation and to define an adequate and safe startup procedure. In this study we investigate the impact of the beam time structure on the kinetic behavior of the sub-critical core and derive a general relationship between the time evolution of the neutron population and the proton beam.

Export •

reference for this paper to ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)