LAUR 09 00879 Nuclear Applications of Accelerators Experience

LA-UR 09 -00879 Nuclear Applications of Accelerators; Experience in the 'A' Programs (APT, ATW, AAA, AFCI) Dr. Laurie Waters Group D-5, International Nuclear & Systems Analysis Los Alamos National Lab February 12, 2009 Fermi National Laboratory UNCLASSIFIED Slide 1 Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

High Power, High Energy, Industrial Accelerators Accelerator Production of Tritium Accelerator Transmutation of Waste Advanced Accelerator Applications (ADTF) Accelerator Driven Systems Advanced Fuel Cycle Initative Power production Radioisotope Production Slide 2

High Power Accelerators * * Beam Power (MW) = Energy (Me. V) x Current (Amps) UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Planned Facilities §LEDA UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Tritium Production in the US (Tritium halflife is 12. 3 years) • • • • 1953 -1955 Tritium producing reactors online 1976 -1988 Need for new tritium production method recognized, many false starts, controversy, no real progress 1979 Three Mile Island 1986 Chernobyl 1987 N and C reactors shutdown 1988 K, L and P shutdown 1989 Plan to refurbish/restart K New Production Reactor (NPR) project start - MHTGR (modular hi-temp gascooled reactor), HWR, LWR 1990 Ebasco HWR and MHTGR selected 1991 Arms reduction progress, only one option needed. K reactor leaks. 1992 $1. 5 B spent on K reactor $1. 5 B spent on NPR, program cancelled 1993 K reactor restart cancelled 1995 APT primary option, and CLWR is the backup 1997 TVA proposed sale of of Bellefonte to DOE with Watts Bar/Sequoya service as backup 1998 “Interagency review” issued Watts Bar service chosen Slide 5

DOE Dual Track Tritium Strategy DOE Tritium Production Options in December 1995 Purchase Irradiation Services or Commercial Reactor Build Advanced Light Water Reactor (Small or Large) Build Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) Build Heavy Water Reactor (HWR) Build Proton Accelerator (APT) system Accelerator Commercial Reactor Option(s) DOE Decision 12/1998 APT Backup CLWR Primary TVA Watts Bar and Sequoyah Power Reactors § 10 a

Extensive Testing of the Prototype Proton Injector Shows its Suitability for APT Operations 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL SCL (ß = 0. 64) 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A TSF T/B The injector produces the proton beam and gives it an initial energy of 75 ke. V. The APT injector prototype has demonstrated >110 m. A of proton current at 75 ke. V, with exceptionally good properties and 96% - 98% availability. UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA Beamstop

The APT Radio Frequency Quadrupole is Similar to Others Used in Accelerators Worldwide 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL SCL (ß = 0. 64) 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A TSF T/B Waveguide The 8 -m long RFQ bunches the beam and gently accelerates to 6. 7 Me. V It has 4 tuned segments, is an allbrazed structure, of copper, resonance control by water temperature. The RFQ has met the project milestone of extended cw operation at 100 m. A. RFQ UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA Beamstop Support Structure

Normal-Conducting Copper Accelerating Structures Will Take the Beam from 6. 7 to 211 Me. V 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL SCL (ß = 0. 64) 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A TSF T/B Beamstop Normal-conducting copper structures are used to accelerate the beam to 211 Me. V A coupled cavity drift tube linac (CCDTL) will be used to 100 Me. V. The section from 100 Me. V to 211 Me. V will be a coupled-cavity linac similar to the installation at Fermilab shown on the right Prototype cavities are under fabrication UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA Fermilab

Superconducting Niobium Cavities Take the Beam from 211 Me. V to 1030 Me. V 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL SCL (ß = 0. 64) 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A TSF T/B Beamstop = 0. 64 Cryomodule Repetitive sets of niobium cavities are used to accelerate the beam to the full energy. Vacuum Jacket The use of superconducting niobium saves 20% of the capital and electric power cost. The APT design allows the use of only two cavity shapes, simplifying manufacturability and lowering cost. Waveguide UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA Power Coupler 5 -cell Nb Cavity

Highly Efficient RF Generators Will Power the Plant 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL SCL (ß = 0. 64) 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A §TSF T/B Beamstop Radio Frequency power to accelerate the beam is supplied by klystrons Three 1. 2 -MW, 350 MHz supplies have been installed to run the RFQ at LEDA Two 1 -MW, 700 MHz tubes for the rest of the accelerator are in operation UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA 350 MHZ, 1. 2 MW Klystron

The Target/Blanket Produces Tritium Efficiently Using a Tungsten and Lead Neutron Source 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL SCL (ß = 0. 64) 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A TSF Beamstop T/B Cavity Vessel The Target/Blanket efficiently produces and converts 3 He into tritium Iron Shield Lead Blanket Modules The system operates at low temperature and pressure The modular design allows periodic replacement of components Window Tritium inventory is minimized by semi -continuous removal UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA Proton Beam Tungsten Neutron Source

Tritium Separation Facility Recovers Tritium from Helium, Separates Tritium from Protium, and Ships Product 350 MHz RFQ CCDTL Injector Beam transport 700 MHz RF Systems 97 Me. V CCL 211 Me. V SCL (ß = 0. 64) SCL (ß = 0. 82) 471 Me. V 1030 Me. V 1700 Me. V 100 m. A TSF T/B Beamstop Remove spallation and activation products from gas Recover hydrogen isotopes using palladium-silver permeators Separate tritium from protium using cryogenic distillation Package/ship tritium to SRS Tritium Facilities in DOT package Supply purified 3 He to Target/Blanket Confine systems in gloveboxes to minimize environmental releases Tritium Processing Glovebox

DOE Dual Track Tritium Strategy DOE Tritium Production Options in December 1995 § Purchase Irradiation Services or Commercial Reactor § Build Advanced Light Water Reactor (Small or Large) § Build Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) § Build Heavy Water Reactor (HWR) § Build Proton Accelerator (APT) system § Accelerator § APT §DOE § Commercial Reactor Option(s) §TVA Backup § CLWR Primary §Decision § 12/1998 Watts Bar and Sequoyah Power Reactors § 10 a

The APT Mission as Backup is to Complete ED&D and Preliminary Design of a Modular Plant §Heat §Maintenance Exchanger Building §Klystron §Injector Gallery §Cryogenics Plant §Tritium § 1030 Me. V Transport Line Separation Building §Target/Blanket Building § 1700 Me. V Transport Line The Modular Design APT Plant features: 1. 5 kg/year plant capacity with an option (shown) for an upgrade to a plant capacity of 3 kg/year or downgrade to 1 kg/year. Design Target/Blanket and Tritium Processing for a maximum capacity of 3 kg/year UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Materials Handbook Revision 5, June 2006 • • • • Alloy 718 316 L Stainless Steel 6061 Aluminum 316 L to 6061 -T 6 Aluminum welds Lead Niobium Graphite RF Window Alumina Tritium systems materials, coolants, fluids 304 L Stainless Steel 9 Cr-1 Mo Ferritic/Martensitic Steel (T 91) Tantalum Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Slide 16

Mechanical Property Data Needed In Beam Mechanical Property data needed Rung materials Alloy 718 Superplastic form Alloy 718 Annealed Clad materials Alloy 600 Annealed 316 L annealed Tungsten Alloys (comp/bend) CVD W-PS & forged W with La 2 O 3 W-wrought HIPPED Bonds Thermal Conductivity Test-pure materials Bond measurements ultrasonic measurements before/after measure using thermogravimetric camera Weld Materials SS-3 tensile, cut directly out of weld Compact Tension ? 316/316, 718/718, §Al 6061 -T 6 Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) specimens 316 L, Alloy 718 CT type specimens Prestrained (PS) materials Alloy 718 -SP Tensile §Corr §WComp §WBend § 718 SP Out of Beam Mechanical Property data needed Al 6061 (T 6, T 4? ) fracture toughness tensile (high dose) Al/SS Inertial welds, Al/Al welds fracture toughness tensile Fatigue Crack Growth specimens Al 6061 -T 6 §Corr §Alloy §Weld SS-3 §FCG 600 §WComp §WBend § 718 Ann 718 Ann §Corr § 718 SP-PS §Weld SS-3 §Weld §FCG SS-3 316 L §Al 6061 -T 6 §TC pure mat or Al 6061 -T 6 FCG §Weld SS-3 §Smart/Opt §Al 6061 -T 6 FCG §Corr mat. §Weld §Al 6061 -T 6 SS-3

Tungsten Example results

Corrosion rates (SS 316 L) Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy with corrosion probes

Effect of beam structure

Materials Test Station Baseline Design • Monolithic design using HT-9 is main structural material and is Pb-Bi and D 2 O cooled. • A split proton beam impinges on two targets, providing a center flux trap for fuel irradiations. • Materials samples will be placed on the outsides of the targets. • Target will be driven by 800 -Me. V, 1. 35 -m. A proton beam. • Operation at 75% capacity factor for 8 months of the year (4400 h/yr) ANS-Boston Jun 24 -28, 2007

• The MTS target design will serve as a fast-flux irradiation facility for nuclear fuel and materials. • The center flux trap will see a peak of 1. 5 x 1015 n/cm 2/s total flux (and 1. 3 x 1015 n/cm 2/s fast flux). • Fuel clad temperatures will be near-prototypic (400 -500 C) • Materials samples can be placed in the side modules which see less flux intensity but will have limited active temperature control. • The high-energy tail from the spallation interactions will increase the He/dpa ratio depending on location in the target. ANS-Boston Jun 24 -28, 2007

Facility Layout Proton beam ANS-Boston Jun 24 -28, 2007

Proton Flux ANS-Boston Jun 24 -28, 2007

Neutron Flux • Neutron flux at the midplane varies from ~5 x 1014 to almost 1. 3 e 15 n/cm 2/s. ANS-Boston Jun 24 -28, 2007

Point Defect Measurement UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Comparisons with NRT and Molecular Dynamics (MDCASK) UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Decay Heat Measurement Slide 29

Comparison of measured and calculated decay heat

The PMMA/Goodman Liquid Water Phantom Tissue-Equivalent Ion Chambers UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Measured Neutron Spectra at the Phantom UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Two Criteria support Enhance Long-Term Public Safety Reduction in Predicted Dose by 99% requires: Neptunium chain (245 Cm, 241 Pu, 241 Am, 237 N) reduction by 99. 5 - 99. 8% Actinium chain (243 Cm, 243 Am, 239 Pu ) reduction by 99. 6 -99. 9% Radium Chain (242 Pu, 238 Pu, 234 U) reduction by 98. 9 99. 6% Thorium Chain (244 Cm, 240 Pu) reduction by 99. 3 99. 7%

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US DOE AAA Program Developing Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Technology for High-Power. Spallation Neutron Targets N. Li, K. Woloshun, V. Tcharnotskaia, C. Ammerman, T. Darling, J. King, X. He, D. Harkleroad The U. S. DOE Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) Program aims to develop an Accelerator. Driven Test Facility (ADTF) that provides a world-class test facility to assess technology options for the transmutation of spent nuclear fuel and waste, and provide a test bed for advanced nuclear technologies and applications. The development and testing of a high power high flux spallation target as the external neutron source for the subcritical blanket is critical for ADTF and future Accelerator-driven Transmutation of Waste (ATW) applications. Lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) emerged as a leading candidate for high-power spallation targets. LBE has exceptional chemical, thermal physical, nuclear and neutronic properties well suited for nuclear coolant and spallation target application. The Materials Test Loop (MTL) is an essential part of the out-of-beam testing program in the U. S. MTL is a major step toward demonstrating the use of LBE on a scale representative of MW level spallation targets. UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Active control of oxygen in LBE can prevent steel corrosion and coolant contamination N. Li, “Active Control of Oxygen in Molten Lead-Bismuth Eutectic Systems to Prevent Steel Corrosion and Coolant Contamination”, LAUR-99 -4696, to appear in Journal of Nuclear Materials UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Achievable Reduction of Corrosion and Precipitation through Active Oxygen Control X. Y. He, N. Li and M. Mineev, “A Kinetic Model for Corrosion and Precipitation in Nonisothermal LBE Flow Loop”, Journal of Nuclear Materials 297 (2001) 214 -219 Corrosion/precipitation rate in the MTL with oxygen control and without oxygen. Rates for oxygen controlled LBE are multiplied with 100 and 1000 respectively UNCLASSIFIED for two oxygen levels. LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

MTL DAC Front Panel MTL Upper Loop Section UNCLASSIFIED MTL Front View MTL Heater Section LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Isotope Production Facility at LANSCE • Fall 2003, new facility • 100 Me. V H+ beam, up to 200 microamps • Aluminum 26 (aluminum tracer), Silicon 32 are unique to LANL Strontium-82 is supplied to GE Healthcare for use in the Cardio. Gen(r) rubidium-82 generator. The generators in turn are supplied to hospitals and medical laboratories to support cardiac imaging through Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The generator technology was developed by the DOE Medical Radioisotope Program during the 1970 s and 1980 s, and the technology was transferred to private industry in the late 1980 s. The DOE continues to be one of the principle suppliers of the strontium-82 for the generators. Strontium-82 is produced by bombarding rubidium chloride or rubidium metal with protons with energies between 40 and 70 Me. V. Germanium-68 is used for calibration sources for medical imaging equipment. Hospitals and research institutions across the nation use such sources every day to calibrate PET scanners. Without such calibrations the usefulness of equipment for medical imaging and research would be severely limited. Germanium-68 is produced by bombarding gallium metal with protons with energies between 20 and 70 Me. V. Silicon-32 is used in oceanographic research to study the silicon cycle in marine organisms, principally diatoms. Its use in this application has dramatically improved the timeliness and quality of data available in this area of environmental research. Silicon-32 is produced by high-energy (> 90 Me. V) proton bombardment of sodium chloride. UNCLASSIFIED LANS Company Sensitive — unauthorized release or dissemination prohibited Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for NNSA

Regulatory considerations • Accelerator-driven attractive because of ‘inherent safety’ • • Subcritical systems Turn off the beam, problem goes away Don’t get out of extensive safety analysis. 10 CFR 831 Slide 41

Funding • GNEP (Global Nuclear Energy Partnership) • • • Int’l partnership to promote the use of nuclear power and close the nuclear fuel cycle to reduce waste and proliferation risk. ‘Bypass’ Yucca Mountain. Promoted fast reactor technology, but didn’t go over well with the utilities (who want to concentrate on GEN 3 reactors). No demonstration projects Basically dead Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) • • Focused R&D effort Develop fuel systems for GEN IV reactors • Reduce high level waste volume • Greatly reduce long-lived and highly radiotoxic elements • Relcaim energy content of spent nuclear fuel Slide 42