Physics Letters B 754 (2016) 104–108
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Physics Letters B
www.elsevier.com/locate/physletb
Spallation reaction study for fission products in nuclear waste:
Cross
section measurements for
137
Cs and
90
Sr on proton and deuteron
H. Wang
a,∗
, H. Otsu
a
, H. Sakurai
a
, D.S. Ahn
a
, M. Aikawa
b
, P. Doornenbal
a
, N. Fukuda
a
,
T. Isobe
a
, S. Kawakami
c
, S. Koyama
d
, T. Kubo
a
, S. Kubono
a
, G. Lorusso
a
, Y. Maeda
c
,
A. Makinaga
e
, S. Momiyama
d
, K. Nakano
f
, M. Niikura
d
, Y. Shiga
g,a
, P.-A. Söderström
a
,
H. Suzuki
a
, H. Takeda
a
, S. Takeuchi
a
, R. Taniuchi
d,a
, Ya. Watanabe
a
, Yu. Watanabe
f
,
H. Yamasaki
d
, K. Yoshida
a
a
RIKEN Nishina Center, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
b
Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
c
Department of Applied Physics, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan
d
Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
e
Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, North-14, West-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8648, Japan
f
Department of Advanced Energy Engineering Science, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan
g
Department of Physics, Rikkyo University, 3-34-1 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo 171-8501, Japan
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received
27 August 2015
Received
in revised form 14 December 2015
Accepted
29 December 2015
Available
online 11 January 2016
Editor:
D.F. Geesaman
Keywords:
Spallation
reaction on proton and deuteron
Transmutation
of long-lived fission products
137
Cs
90
Sr
We have studied spallation reactions for the fission products
137
Cs and
90
Sr for the purpose of nuclear
waste transmutation. The spallation cross sections on the proton and deuteron were obtained in inverse
kinematics for the first time using secondary beams of
137
Cs and
90
Sr at 185 MeV/nucleon at the RIKEN
Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. The target dependence has been investigated systematically, and the
cross-section differences between the proton and deuteron are found to be larger for lighter spallation
products. The experimental data are compared with the PHITS calculation, which includes cascade and
evaporation processes. Our results suggest that both proton- and deuteron-induced spallation reactions
are promising mechanisms for the transmutation of radioactive fission products.
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP
3
.
1. Introduction
Nuclear power has provided a modern source of energy since
the middle of the twentieth century. Because the nuclear power
stations do not produce greenhouse gases, nuclear power is con-
sidered
as a potential candidate to mitigate climate change while
delivering a large amount of energy. However, nuclear safety and
security are matters of concern to the entire world. Reduction in
the quantity of high-level radioactive waste is one of the major is-
sues
for the use of a nuclear power plant.
Research
and development into the reduction of radioactive
waste using partitioning and transmutation technology has been
performed over recent decades [1]. High-level radioactive waste
has two main components: long-lived fission product (LLFP) and
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail
address: wanghe@ribf.riken.jp (H. Wang).
minor actinide (MA). The transmutation of MA has been studied in
detail for the purpose of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel in a con-
cept
of using the accelerator-driven system (ADS) [2]. For instance,
proton/deuteron-induced spallation reactions of heavy stable nu-
clei
have been investigated at GSI for ADS targets [3,4]. On the
other hand, the transmutation of LLFP has not been studied as ex-
tensively
because they are not considered to be useful materials for
power production. In addition, LLFP can be produced continuously
in ADS systems and next-generation nuclear reactors, for instance
fast breeder reactors.
However,
the transmutation on
137
Cs and
90
Sr, which have large
weight fractions (40%) in LLFP, has received much attention. These
two isotopes have large radiotoxicities due to their relatively short
half lives of 30 years [5]. Indeed, their radiotoxicities are predomi-
nant
(more than 90%) in the first 100 years after the reprocessing
of spent fuel. In addition, these two LLFP nuclei are the major
source of heat in high-level nuclear waste [1].
137
Cs and
90
Sr have
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2015.12.078
0370-2693/
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by
SCOAP
3
.