Prediction of Spallation Induced Transmutation Rates For Long Lived Fission Products via Proton Accelerator

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Tukharyan, Grigor, Kendrick, William Reed, Danagoulian, Areg, Forget, Benoit
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Tukharyan, Grigor
Kendrick, William Reed
Danagoulian, Areg
Forget, Benoit
author_facet Tukharyan, Grigor
Kendrick, William Reed
Danagoulian, Areg
Forget, Benoit
contents Long lived fission products represent a major challenge in nuclear waste management due to persistent radiotoxicity over very long timescales. This study focuses on six of these fission products: Se-79, Zr-93, Tc-99, Sn-126, I-127, Cs-135. This study investigates the feasibility of spallation driven transmutation, in which a high energy proton beam strikes a heavy spallation target to generate neutrons that induce transmutation in the fission products surrounding the target. Lead and depleted uranium are identified as the principal spallation target candidates, reflecting contrasting trade offs in neutron yield, secondary reactions, and heat generation. Simulations assess nuclide specific behavior under reactor scale inventories and practical geometric constraints. Results demonstrate that technetium, iodine, and selenium are strong candidates for transmutation using this pathway, while tin shows partial resistance but benefits from thermal flux. By contrast, zirconium is neutron transparent and inefficient to transmute, and cesium suffers from low net reduction due to competition with lighter isotopes. Cost effectiveness is highly isotope dependent: technetium is most favorable, whereas cesium and zirconium remain expensive. These findings highlight the advantages and limitations of spallation driven systems and motivate strategies with optimized target-blanket designs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_05507
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prediction of Spallation Induced Transmutation Rates For Long Lived Fission Products via Proton Accelerator
Tukharyan, Grigor
Kendrick, William Reed
Danagoulian, Areg
Forget, Benoit
Accelerator Physics
Nuclear Experiment
Long lived fission products represent a major challenge in nuclear waste management due to persistent radiotoxicity over very long timescales. This study focuses on six of these fission products: Se-79, Zr-93, Tc-99, Sn-126, I-127, Cs-135. This study investigates the feasibility of spallation driven transmutation, in which a high energy proton beam strikes a heavy spallation target to generate neutrons that induce transmutation in the fission products surrounding the target. Lead and depleted uranium are identified as the principal spallation target candidates, reflecting contrasting trade offs in neutron yield, secondary reactions, and heat generation. Simulations assess nuclide specific behavior under reactor scale inventories and practical geometric constraints. Results demonstrate that technetium, iodine, and selenium are strong candidates for transmutation using this pathway, while tin shows partial resistance but benefits from thermal flux. By contrast, zirconium is neutron transparent and inefficient to transmute, and cesium suffers from low net reduction due to competition with lighter isotopes. Cost effectiveness is highly isotope dependent: technetium is most favorable, whereas cesium and zirconium remain expensive. These findings highlight the advantages and limitations of spallation driven systems and motivate strategies with optimized target-blanket designs.
title Prediction of Spallation Induced Transmutation Rates For Long Lived Fission Products via Proton Accelerator
topic Accelerator Physics
Nuclear Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05507