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TRANSMUTATION OF TOXIC ISOTOPES

By Jan Wallenius


From: NEN, Vol. 6, No. 4, Aug. 1998, p. 5.
New Energy News (NEN) copyright 1997 by Fusion Information Center, Inc.
COPYING NOT ALLOWED without written permission.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TRANSMUTATION OF TOXIC ISOTOPES

Jan Wallenius (Royal Inst. Technol., Dept. Nucl. & Reactor Phys., Sweden), "Transmutation of 137Cs and 129I Using a Muon-Catalyzed Fusion Neutron Source," Fusion Technol., vol 33, no 4, July 1998, pp 456-461, 14 refs, 4 figs, 1 table.

AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT

Transmutation of the radio-toxic isotopes 137-Cs and 129-I using a muon-catalyzed fusion (microCF) neutron source is considered. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations show that each fusion neutron may transmute up to 1.7 radio-toxic nuclei, depending on geometry and choice of material. Further, it is found that chemically confining cesium atoms in the compound Cs2-O leads to higher transmutation efficiency for a given volume as compared with pure cesium. Assuming that a minimal requirement for applying transmutations to 137-Cs is that the inventory half-life with respect to undergoing transmutation is less than twice the natural half-life T(1/2) = 30 yr, the highest transmutation rate in a system consisting of a microCF source with a maximum achievable intensity of 5 x 10**18 n/s is ~ 5 kg/yr, at an inventory of 300 kg. For larger inventories, the half-life becomes longer. Hence, it seems difficult to achieve a positive energy balance in the process, in contradiction with results of a previous study.


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