In-pile loop test for the pebble bed reactor fuel development program : final report /

"Final report to Sanderson and Porter for subcontract no. S-3 under USAEC Prime Contract no. AT(30-1)-2378."

Enriched uranium fuel materials : a bibliography of unclassified literature /

Unclassified reports on processing of enriched UF₆ into U metal, U-base alloys, UO₂, and UO₂SO₄ for use a reactor fuels are annotated. Recovery of enriched U scrap, methods of isotopic analysis, health physics, criticality problems, and materials management are emphasized. A few references to papers presented at the Geneva Conference, 1955, and other recent nonreport literature are included. 254 references.

The Reactor handbook.

Ed. by J. F. Hogerton and R. C. Grass, Vitro Corporation of America.

Uranium dioxide fuel materials with improved thermal conductivity /

Work performed at the Sylvania-Corning Nuclear Corporation under contract AT (30-1) GEN-366 with the Division of Reactor Development.

Proceedings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tenth Water Reactor Safety Research Information Meeting, held at National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland, October 12-15, 1982 /

Includes papers describing research sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, NRC.

Proceedings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Eleventh Water Reactor Safety Research Information Meeting, held at National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland, October 24-28, 1983 /

Includes bibliographies.

Proceedings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thirteenth Water Reactor Safety Research Information Meeting, held at National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland, October 22-25, 1985 /

Includes bibliographies.

Reactor handbook.

Includes bibliographies.

The interaction of fast neutrons with shielding and fusion blanket materials

In the present work the neutron emission spectra from a graphite cube, and from natural uranium, lithium fluoride, graphite, lead and steel slabs bombarded with 14.1 MeV neutrons were measured to test nuclear data and calculational methods for D - T fusion reactor neutronics. The neutron spectra measured were performed by an organic scintillator using a pulse shape discrimination technique based on a charge comparison method to reject the gamma rays counts. A computer programme was used to analyse the experimental data by the differentiation unfolding method. The 14.1 MeV neutron source was obtained from T(d,n)4He reaction by the bombardment of T - Ti target with a deuteron beam of energy 130 KeV. The total neutron yield was monitored by the associated particle method using a silicon surface barrier detector. The numerical calculations were performed using the one-dimensional discrete-ordinate neutron transport code ANISN with the ZZ-FEWG 1/ 31-1F cross section library. A computer programme based on Gaussian smoothing function was used to smooth the calculated data and to match the experimental data. There was general agreement between measured and calculated spectra for the range of materials studied. The ANISN calculations carried out with P3 - S8 calculations together with representation of the slab assemblies by a hollow sphere with no reflection at the internal boundary were adequate to model the experimental data and hence it appears that the cross section set is satisfactory and for the materials tested needs no modification in the range 14.1 MeV to 2 MeV. Also it would be possible to carry out a study on fusion reactor blankets, using cylindrical geometry and including a series of concentric cylindrical shells to represent the torus wall, possible neutron converter and breeder regions, and reflector and shielding regions.

Modelling and simulation of biomass gasification in a circulating fluidized bed reactor

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has found great acceptance among the engineering community as a tool for research and design of processes that are practically difficult or expensive to study experimentally. One of these processes is the biomass gasification in a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB). Biomass gasification is the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass at a high temperature and a controlled oxygen amount into fuel gas, also sometime referred to as syngas. Circulating fluidized bed is a type of reactor in which it is possible to maintain a stable and continuous circulation of solids in a gas-solid system. The main objectives of this thesis are four folds: (i) Develop a three-dimensional predictive model of biomass gasification in a CFB riser using advanced Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) (ii) Experimentally validate the developed hydrodynamic model using conventional and advanced measuring techniques (iii) Study the complex hydrodynamics, heat transfer and reaction kinetics through modelling and simulation (iv) Study the CFB gasifier performance through parametric analysis and identify the optimum operating condition to maximize the product gas quality. Two different and complimentary experimental techniques were used to validate the hydrodynamic model, namely pressure measurement and particle tracking. The pressure measurement is a very common and widely used technique in fluidized bed studies, while, particle tracking using PEPT, which was originally developed for medical imaging, is a relatively new technique in the engineering field. It is relatively expensive and only available at few research centres around the world. This study started with a simple poly-dispersed single solid phase then moved to binary solid phases. The single solid phase was used for primary validations and eliminating unnecessary options and steps in building the hydrodynamic model. Then the outcomes from the primary validations were applied to the secondary validations of the binary mixture to avoid time consuming computations. Studies on binary solid mixture hydrodynamics is rarely reported in the literature. In this study the binary solid mixture was modelled and validated using experimental data from the both techniques mentioned above. Good agreement was achieved with the both techniques. According to the general gasification steps the developed model has been separated into three main gasification stages; drying, devolatilization and tar cracking, and partial combustion and gasification. The drying was modelled as a mass transfer from the solid phase to the gas phase. The devolatilization and tar cracking model consist of two steps; the devolatilization of the biomass which is used as a single reaction to generate the biomass gases from the volatile materials and tar cracking. The latter is also modelled as one reaction to generate gases with fixed mass fractions. The first reaction was classified as a heterogeneous reaction while the second reaction was classified as homogenous reaction. The partial combustion and gasification model consisted of carbon combustion reactions and carbon and gas phase reactions. The partial combustion considered was for C, CO, H2 and CH4. The carbon gasification reactions used in this study is the Boudouard reaction with CO2, the reaction with H2O and Methanation (Methane forming reaction) reaction to generate methane. The other gas phase reactions considered in this study are the water gas shift reaction, which is modelled as a reversible reaction and the methane steam reforming reaction. The developed gasification model was validated using different experimental data from the literature and for a wide range of operating conditions. Good agreement was observed, thus confirming the capability of the model in predicting biomass gasification in a CFB to a great accuracy. The developed model has been successfully used to carry out sensitivity and parametric analysis. The sensitivity analysis included: study of the effect of inclusion of various combustion reaction; and the effect of radiation in the gasification reaction. The developed model was also used to carry out parametric analysis by changing the following gasifier operating conditions: fuel/air ratio; biomass flow rates; sand (heat carrier) temperatures; sand flow rates; sand and biomass particle sizes; gasifying agent (pure air or pure steam); pyrolysis models used; steam/biomass ratio. Finally, based on these parametric and sensitivity analysis a final model was recommended for the simulation of biomass gasification in a CFB riser.

Diseño y optimización de un aplanador de flujo neutrónico para dopaje de silicio en el Reactor RA-10.

El reactor multipropósito RA-10 que se construirá en Ezeiza tiene como objetivo principal aumentar la producción de radioisótopos destinados al diagnóstico de enfermedades; adicionalmente el proyecto RA-10 permitirá ofrecer al sistema científico-tecnológico oportunidades de investigación, desarrollo y producción. Entre ellas se contará con una facilidad de dopaje de silicio a través de transmutación neutrónica para producir material semiconductor. La principal ventaja de esta técnica de fabricación es que se obtiene el semiconductor más homogéneamente dopado del mercado. Esto se logra irradiando a la pieza con un flujo neutrónico axialmente uniforme. La uniformidad axial se obtiene diseñando un aplanador de flujo que consiste en un conjunto de anillos de acero de diferentes espesores para lograr aplanar el perfil de flujo neutrónico que irradia al silicio. El objetivo de este trabajo es diseñar e implementar un algoritmo que permita calcular los espesores óptimos de acero de forma tal de modificar el perfil de flujo neutrónico que se genera en el núcleo para uniformizarlo lo más posible. Se proponen y evalúan mejoras para incrementar el valor del flujo neutrónico al cual se uniformiza. Posteriormente se evalúan los tiempos necesarios para obtener diferentes resistividades objetivo y se realizan cálculos de activación neutrónica para determinar los tiempos de decaimiento necesarios para cumplir los límites de actividad requeridos. Se realizan además cálculos de calentamiento para determinar la potencia que se debe disipar para refrigerar la facilidad.

Diseño y optimización de un aplanador de flujo neutrónico para dopaje de silicio en el Reactor RA-10.

El reactor multipropósito RA-10 que se construirá en Ezeiza tiene como objetivo principal aumentar la producción de radioisótopos destinados al diagnóstico de enfermedades; adicionalmente el proyecto RA-10 permitirá ofrecer al sistema científico-tecnológico oportunidades de investigación, desarrollo y producción. Entre ellas se contará con una facilidad de dopaje de silicio a través de transmutación neutrónica para producir material semiconductor. La principal ventaja de esta técnica de fabricación es que se obtiene el semiconductor más homogéneamente dopado del mercado. Esto se logra irradiando a la pieza con un flujo neutrónico axialmente uniforme. La uniformidad axial se obtiene diseñando un aplanador de flujo que consiste en un conjunto de anillos de acero de diferentes espesores para lograr aplanar el perfil de flujo neutrónico que irradia al silicio. El objetivo de este trabajo es diseñar e implementar un algoritmo que permita calcular los espesores óptimos de acero de forma tal de modificar el perfil de flujo neutrónico que se genera en el núcleo para uniformizarlo lo más posible. Se proponen y evalúan mejoras para incrementar el valor del flujo neutrónico al cual se uniformiza. Posteriormente se evalúan los tiempos necesarios para obtener diferentes resistividades objetivo y se realizan cálculos de activación neutrónica para determinar los tiempos de decaimiento necesarios para cumplir los límites de actividad requeridos. Se realizan además cálculos de calentamiento para determinar la potencia que se debe disipar para refrigerar la facilidad.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Anthracene in Closed System Reactor

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a large class of persistent organic pollutants in an environment of special concern because they have carcinogenic and mutagenic activity. In this paper, we focus on and discuss the effect of different parameters, for instance, initial concentration of Anthracene, temperature, and light intensity, on the degradation rate. These parameters were adjusted at pH 6.8 in the presence of the semiconductor materials (TiO2) as photocatalysts overUVlight. The main product of Anthracene photodegradation is 9,10-Anthraquinone which isidentified and compared with the standard compound by GC-MS. Our results indicate that the optimum conditions for the best rate of degradation are 25 ppm concentration of Anthracene, regulating the reaction vessel at 308.15 K and 2.5 mW/cm(2) of light intensity at 17 5mg/100 mL of titanium dioxide (P25).

Hydrogen production by enhanced methane reforming with membrane reactors or with CO2 capture materials

Pure hydrogen production from methane is a multi-step process run on a large scale for economic reasons. However, hydrogen can be produced in a one-pot continuous process for small scale applications, namely Low Temperature Steam Reforming. Here, Steam Reforming is carried out in a reactor whose walls are composed by a membrane selective toward hydrogen. Pd is the most used membrane material due to its high permeability and selectivity. However, Pd deteriorates at temperatures higher than 500°C, thus the operative temperature of the reaction has to be lowered. However, the employment of a membrane reactor may allow to give high yields thanks to hydrogen removal, which shifts the reaction toward the products. Moreover, pure hydrogen is produced. This work is concentrated on the synthesis of a catalytic system and the investigation of its performances in different processes, namely oxy-reforming, steam reforming and water gas shift, to find appropriate conditions for hydrogen production in a catalytic membrane reactor. The catalyst supports were CeZr and Zr oxides synthesized by microemulsion, impregnated with different noble metals. Pt, Rh and PtRh based catalysts were tested in the oxy reforming process at 500°C, where Rh on CeZr gave the most interesting results. On the opposite, the best performances in low temperature steam reforming were obtained with Rh impregnated on Zr oxide. This catalyst was selected to perform low temperature steam reforming in a Pd membrane reactor. The hydrogen removal given by the membrane allowed to increase the methane conversion over the equilibrium of a classical fixed bed reactor thanks to an equilibrium shift effect. High hydrogen production and recoveries were also obtained, and no other compound permeated through the membrane which proved to be hydrogen selective.

Electrochemical Oxidation Of Landfill Leachate In A Flow Reactor: Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology.

Response surface methodology based on Box-Behnken (BBD) design was successfully applied to the optimization in the operating conditions of the electrochemical oxidation of sanitary landfill leachate aimed for making this method feasible for scale up. Landfill leachate was treated in continuous batch-recirculation system, where a dimensional stable anode (DSA(©)) coated with Ti/TiO2 and RuO2 film oxide were used. The effects of three variables, current density (milliampere per square centimeter), time of treatment (minutes), and supporting electrolyte dosage (moles per liter) upon the total organic carbon removal were evaluated. Optimized conditions were obtained for the highest desirability at 244.11 mA/cm(2), 41.78 min, and 0.07 mol/L of NaCl and 242.84 mA/cm(2), 37.07 min, and 0.07 mol/L of Na2SO4. Under the optimal conditions, 54.99 % of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 71.07 ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) removal was achieved with NaCl and 45.50 of COD and 62.13 NH3-N with Na2SO4. A new kinetic model predicted obtained from the relation between BBD and the kinetic model was suggested.