• 제목/요약/키워드: Uranium and Thorium

검색결과 61건 처리시간 0.023초

Economic analysis of thorium extraction from monazite

  • Salehuddin, Ahmad Hayaton Jamely Mohd;Ismail, Aznan Fazli;Bahri, Che Nor Aniza Che Zainul;Aziman, Eli Syafiqah
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • 제51권2호
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    • pp.631-640
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    • 2019
  • Thorium ($^{232}Th$) is four times more abundant than uranium in nature and has become a new important source of energy in the future. This is due to the ability of thorium to undergo the bombardment of neutron to produce uranium-233 ($^{233}U$). The aim of this study is to investigate the production cost of thorium oxide ($ThO_2$) resulted from the thorium extraction process. Four main parameters were studied which include raw material and chemical cost, total capital investment, direct cost and indirect cost. These parameters were justified to obtain the final production cost for the thorium extraction process. The result showed that the raw material costs were $63,126.00 - $104,120.77 (0.5 ton), $126,252.00 - $178,241.53 (1.0 ton), and $1,262,520.00 - $1,782,415.33 (10.0 tons). The total installed equipment and total cost investment were estimated to be approximately $11,542,984.10 and $13,274,431.715 respectively. Hence, the total costs for producing 1 kg $ThO_2$ were $6829.79 - $6911.78, $3540.95 - $3592.94, and $501.18 - $553.17 for 0.5, 1.0, and 10.0 tons respectively. The result concluded that with higher mass production, the cost of 1 kg $ThO_2$ would be reduced which in this scenario, the lowest production cost was $$501.18kg^{-1}$-$$553.17kg^{-1}$ for 10.0 tons of $ThO_2$ production.

질산(窒酸)우라늄-질산(窒酸)토륨 혼합용액중(混合溶液中)의 물함량(含量) 결정식(決定式) 유도(誘導) (Derivation of An Empirical Formula for Determining Water Content of Mixed Uranyl Nitrate-Thorium Nitrate Solutions)

  • 민덕기;최병일;노성기;엄태윤;김종구
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • 제11권1호
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    • pp.22-28
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    • 1986
  • 우라늄의 용존농도(溶存濃度)와 토륨의 용존농도(溶存濃度) 및 질산(窒酸)의 노르말농도(濃度)가 서로 다른 여러가지 질산(窒酸) 우라늄-질산(窒酸)토륨 혼합용액(混合溶液)을 만들어 피크노메타(pycnometer)로서 그 밀도를 측정한 후 우라늄의 용존농도, 토륨의 용존농도 및 질산의 노르말농도만의 함수로서 물함량(含量)을 결정할 수 있는 실험식을 유도하였다. 그 결과 유도된 실험식은 $W=1.0-0.358\;C_u-0.4538\;C_{Th}-0.0307\;H^+$로서 여기에서 $W,\;C_u,\;C_{Th}$$H^+$은 각각 혼합용액중(混合溶液中)의 물함량(含量)(g/cc), 우라늄의 용존농도(溶存濃度)(g/cc), 토륨의 용존농도(溶存濃度)(g/cc) 및 질산(窒酸)의 노르말농도(濃度)를 나타낸다. 유도된 실험식에 의하여 산출된 물함량을 Bouly 등(等)의 방법으로 계산한 결과치(結果値)와 비교하였는데 그 차이는 2.7%이하인 것으로 나타났다.

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Neutronic study of utilization of discrete thorium-uranium fuel pins in CANDU-6 reactor

  • Deng, Nianbiao;Yu, Tao;Xie, Jinsen;Chen, Zhenping;Xie, Qin;Zhao, Pengcheng;Liu, Zijing;Zeng, Wenjie
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • 제51권2호
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    • pp.377-383
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    • 2019
  • Targeting at simulating the application of thorium-uranium (TU) fuel in the CANDU-6 reactor, this paper analyzes the process using the code DRAGON/DONJON where the discrete TU fuel pins are applied in the CANDU-6 reactor under the time-average equilibrium refueling. The results show that the coolant void reactivity of the assembly analyzed in this paper is lower than that of 37-element bundle cell with natural uranium and 37-element bundle cell with mixed TU fuel pins; that the max time-average channel/bundle power of the core meets the limits - less than 6700kW/860 kW; that the fuel conversion ratio is higher than that of the CANDU-6 reactor with natural uranium; and that the exit burnup increases to 13400 MWd/tU. Thus, the simulation in this paper with the fuel in the 37-element bundle cell using discrete TU fuel pins can be considered to be applied in CANDU-6 reactor with adequate modifications of the core structure and operating modes.

토륨 핵연료 주기 기술동향 (Technical Review on Thorium Breeding Cycle)

  • 노태완
    • 에너지공학
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    • 제25권2호
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    • pp.52-64
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    • 2016
  • 토륨은 우라늄에 비해 풍부한 자원으로서의 가치와 핵분열 물질인 U233을 증식하고, 장주기 액티나이드 핵종 발생이 감소하는 특성으로 인해 원자력 연구개발 초기부터 우라늄 주기와 함께 주요 연구대상이었다. 하지만 토륨은 자체적으로 핵분열이 불가능하므로 에너지원으로 활용하기 위해서는 별도의 외부 중성자원이 필요하고, 토륨 주기 과정에서 고방사성 물질이 발생하며, 효과적인 증식을 위해서는 긴 시간의 중성자 조사가 필요했다. 이에 따른 기술적 어려움과 연구개발 필요성의 감소로 1970년대 중반 이후 토륨 관련 연구가 거의 중단되었다. 하지만 1990-2000년대에 에너지 자원에 대한 사회적 시각 변화와 외부 중성자 공급원으로 이용하는 가속기 구동 원자로의 출현으로 과거 토륨주기의 단점으로 지목되었던 성질들이 오히려 핵확산 저항성과 감시성을 높이고, 가속기 구동 원자로의 미임계 운전 특성에 의한 원자력 안전성 증대라는 장점으로 부각되어 토륨에 관한 연구가 세계적으로 활발히 추진되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 토륨주기의 장단점을 우라늄주기와 비교, 분석하고 가속기 구동형 원자로를 이용한 토륨 연구의 기술 현황을 분석한다.

NEUTRONICS INVESTIGATION OF CANADA DEUTERIUM URANIUM 6 REACTOR FUELED (TRANSURANICeTH) O2 USING A COMPUTATIONAL METHOD

  • GHOLAMZADEH, ZOHREH;MIRVAKILI, SEYED MOHAMMAD;KHALAFI, HOSSEIN
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • 제47권1호
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    • pp.85-93
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    • 2015
  • Background: $^{241}Am$, $^{243}Am$, and $^{237}Np$ isotopes are among the most radiotoxic components of spent nuclear fuel. Recently, researchers have planned different incineration scenarios for the highly radiotoxic elements of nuclear waste in critical reactors. Computational methods are widely used to predict burnup rates of such nuclear wastes that are used under fuel matrixes in critical reactors. Methods: In this work, the Monte Carlo N-particle transport code was used to calculate the neutronic behavior of a transuranic (TRU)-bearing CANada Deuterium Uranium 6 reactor. Results: The computational data showed that the 1.0% TRU-containing thorium-based fuel matrix presents higher proliferation resistance and TRU depletion rate than the other investigated fuel Matrixes. The fuel matrix includes higher negative temperature reactivity coefficients as well. Conclusion: The investigated thorium-based fuel matrix can be successfully used to decrease the production of highly radiotoxic isotopes.

x-선 형광분석기톨 이용한 지질시료 중 우라늄과 토륨의 미량분석 (Low-level Determinations of Uranium and Thorium in Geologic Samples by X-ray Fluorescence)

  • 박용준;김정석;최광순;서무열
    • 분석과학
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    • 제9권1호
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    • pp.20-25
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    • 1996
  • 암석 및 토양 등의 지질시료에 미량으로 존재하는 우라늄과 토륨을 파장분산형 X-선 형광분석법을 사용하여 정량하였다. X-선관의 target 물질로 사용되는 Rh의 산란선을 내부 표준물질로 사용하였다. 토륨의 경우는 50초, 그리고 우라늄의 경우는 400초 동안 측정하였을 때, 우라늄과 토륨의 X-선 형광분석결과는 중성자방사화분석 및 유도결합플라즈마 원자방출분광분석의 결과와 큰 차이를 보이지 않았으며 10% 이내의 정밀도와 15% 이내의 정확도를 보여 주었다.

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방사성(放射性) 원소(元素)의 이동현상(移動現象)에 관(關)한 실험적(實驗的) 연구(硏究) : 방사성(放射性) 폐기물(廢棄物) 처리(處理)를 위한 기초연구(基礎硏究) (The Experimental Study of the Migration Phenomena of the Radioactive Elements : A Basic Study for the Radioactive Waste Disposal)

  • 김옥배;박희열
    • 자원환경지질
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    • 제22권3호
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    • pp.277-283
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    • 1989
  • For the study of attenuation phenomena of the radioactive elements in solution, the adsorption experiment of thorium, uranium, barium and strontium on kaolinite, gibbsite, quartz, granite and shale as a function of time, pH and the surface area was conducted under the competition condition each other. There are two steps of adsorption kinetics. The first step is faster and completes in hours or a day, and the second step is slower eqiulibrium reaction. The adsorption rate which is considered to be related to CEC differs with adsorbent and decreases in the order of shale, kaolinite, granite, gibbsite and quartz. On the other hand, the adsorption rate for the same adsorbent differs with elements in the order of thorium,uranium, barium and strontium in decreasing rate. It is also affected by pH of the solution and the surface area of adsorbent. In conclusion, we didn't find any different between noncompetition condition and competition condition, and this means that we only have to consider the pH of ground water, the characteristics of the geological materials and the kinds of radioactive element in the case of selection of the places for the radioactive waste disposal.

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