• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.219-226
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• 2024

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has produced weapon-grade plutonium in a graphite-moderated experimental reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. The amount of plutonium produced can be estimated using the Graphite Isotope Ratio Method (GIRM), even without considering specific operational histories. However, the result depends to some degree on the operational cycle length. Moreover, an optimal cycle length can maximize the number of nuclear weapons made from the plutonium produced. For conservatism, it should be assumed that the target reactor was operated with an optimal cycle length. This study investigated the optimal cycle length using which the Calder Hall MAGNOX reactor can achieve the maximum annual production of nuclear weapons. The results show that lower enrichment fuel produced a greater number of critical plutonium spheres with a shorter optimal cycle length. Specifically, depleted uranium (0.69wt%) produced 5.561 critical plutonium spheres annually with optimal cycle lengths of 251 effective full power days. This research is crucial for understanding DPRK's potential for nuclear weapon production and highlights the importance of reactor operational strategy in maximizing the production of weapons-grade plutonium in MAGNOX reactors.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-98
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• 2022

The nuclear legacy that remains in the United Kingdom (UK) is complex and diverse. Consisting of legacy ponds and silos, redundant reprocessing plants, research facilities, and non-standard or one-off reactor designs, the clean-up of this legacy is under the stewardship of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Through a mix of prompt and delayed decommissioning strategies, the NDA has made great strides in dealing with the UK's nuclear legacy. Fuel debris and sludge removal from the legacy ponds and silos situated at Sellafield, as part of a prompt decommissioning strategy for the site, has enabled intolerable risks to be brought under control. Reactor defueling and waste retrievals across the Magnox fleet is enabling their transition to a period of care and maintenance; accelerated through the adopted 'Lead and Learn' approach. Bespoke decommissioning methods implemented by the NDA have also enabled the relevant site licence companies to tackle non-standard reactor designs and one-off wastes. Such approaches have potential to influence and shape nuclear decommissioning decision making activities globally, including in Korea.

• Nuclear industry
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• v.15 no.12 s.154
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• pp.59-68
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• 1995

영국정부는 최근 국영기업의 민영화정책의 일환으로 원자력발전산업의 민영화방침을 최종 결정, 발표하였다. 그 주요 내용은, 영국의 2대 국영 원자력발전회사인 NE사와 SNL사가 보유중인 8기의 원전을 1개의 통합회사로 설립하여 이를 민영화하고, Magnox 발전소 9기도 별도의 단일회사로 설립한 후 BNFL사에 합병시킨 뒤 장기적으로는 BNFL사의 민영화도 적극 검토한다는 것이다. 이와 함께 화석연료사용부담금의 폐지, 새로운 상용원전에 대한 정부의 재정지원중단, 원자력안전규제의 엄정집행 등이 영국 원전사업 민영화정책의 골자이다. 영국의 원자력발전산업에 대한 민영화정책 결정의 배경과 주요내용, 추진현황 및 교훈과 시사점 등을 살펴본다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2704-2710
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• 2024

Nuclear archaeology research provides scientific methods to reconstruct the operating histories of fissile material production facilities to account for past fissile material production. While it has typically focused on analyzing material in permanent reactor structures, spent fuel or high-level waste also hold information about the reactor operation. In this computational study, we explore a Bayesian inference framework for reconstructing the operational history from measurements of isotope ratios from a sample of nuclear waste. We investigate two different inference models. The first model discriminates between three potential reactors of origin (Magnox, PWR, and PHWR) while simultaneously reconstructing the fuel burnup, time since irradiation, initial enrichment, and average power density. The second model reconstructs the fuel burnup and time since irradiation of two batches of waste in a mixed sample. Each of the models is applied to a set of simulated test data, and the performance is evaluated by comparing the highest posterior density regions to the corresponding parameter values of the test dataset. Both models perform well on the simulated test cases, which highlights the potential of the Bayesian inference framework and opens up avenues for further investigation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.203-212
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• 1979

The thermal decomposition of simulated Magnox highly active waste and of HARVEST feed slurries (SW and SG) which include tile glass forming chemicals has been studied. The waste and the slurries are almost completely calcined by 500-55$0^{\circ}C$. The colour of the solids from the slurries varies little until about 90$0^{\circ}C$ when it darkens considerably. The slurries begin to vitrify at this temperature and are completely vitrified at 1000-105$0^{\circ}C$. On the other hand. the sulphate impurity in SN slurry causes a yellow phase to separate above 75$0^{\circ}C$. The density of the intermediate solids is fairly low until 650$^{\circ}$-$700^{\circ}C$ is reached. This temperature seems to mark the onset of fluxing as tile density rises quickly to 2g/㎤ at 700$^{\circ}$ -80$0^{\circ}C$. The strengh of the solids decreases with temperature up to 50$0^{\circ}C$, and then rises as the solids begin to sinter. Below 50$0^{\circ}C$ the SN solids are the stronger. suggesting that the impurity renders this silica more reactive.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.601-610
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• 2024

This paper gives an extensive analysis on the characterization of xenon isotopic ratios for various nuclear reactors and nuclear explosions through neutronic depletion codes. The results of the characterization can be used for discriminating the sources of the xenon isotopes' release among the nuclear explosions and nuclear reactors. The considered sources of the xenon radionuclides do not only include PWR, CANDU, and nuclear explosions using uranium and plutonium bombs, but also IRT-200 and 5MWe Yongbyon (MAGNOX reactor) research reactors operated in North Korea. A new data base (DB) on xenon isotopic activity ratios was produced using the results of the characterization, which can be used in discrimination of the sources of xenon isotopes. The results of the study show that 5MWe Yongbyon reactor has quite different characteristics in ¹³⁵Xe/¹³³Xe ratio from the PWRs and the nuclear reactors have different characteristics in ¹³⁵Xe/¹³³Xe ratios from the nuclear explosions.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.28-32
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• 2000

In this study, the new processing method to produce magnetite for mono-component black toner was studied using spray roaster. The produced magnetite is compared with TMB 125 made by Magnox, USA. When the weight ratio of the ferrous chloride and the ferric chloride is varied from 3:7~7:3 under $N_2$ atmosphere, the 100% major phase of magnetite is obtained. However, when the content of he ferrous chloride is higher than 70wt%, the content of FeO is increased. The phase of $\Gamma-Fe_2O_3$ is shown in th range of over 70wt% of the ferric chloride. The magnetite produced by spray roasting has a saturation magnetization of 80~85 emu/g and a coercivity of 110~130 Oe. The shape of the particle is irregular sphere and hte size of the magnetite is the range of $0.3~0.5\mu\textrm{m}$. It is shown that the magnetite made by spary roasting is enough to apply to the magnetic material of toner.