NE 124- RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT (3 units)

Components and material flow sheets for nuclear fuel cycle, waste characteristics, sources of radioactive wastes, compositions, radioactivity and heat generation; waste treatment technologies; waste disposal technologies; safety assessment of waste disposal. (Fall or Spring) Ahn

Catalog Description

• Components and material flow sheets for nuclear
  fuel cycle, waste characteristics, sources of radioactive wastes,
  compositions, radioactivity and heat generation; waste treatment
  technologies; waste disposal technologies; safety assessment of
  waste disposal.

Course Prerequisite

• Upper division course in Engineering
  Analysis (Engin. 117) or equivalent

Prerequisite knowledge and/or skills

The course uses the following knowledge
and skills from prerequisite and lower-division courses:

• Mathematics up to ordinary and partial differential
  equations, including their solutions methods, such as Laplace
  transform
• Basic thermodynamics, including chemical equilibrium
• Basic mechanisms and structure of light-water reactors
• Basic concepts of radioactive decay and radioactivity
• Behavior of neutrons in light-water reactors

Textbook(s) and/or other required material

• Nuclear Chemical Engineering, 2nd Ed., M. Benedict,
  T. H. Pigford, and H. Levi, McGraw-Hill, 1981
• The Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Analysis and Management,
  R. G. Cochran and N. Tsoulfanidis, America Nuclear Society, 1990
• Course Reader: prepared by J. Ahn

Course objectives and outcomes

Course Objectives: It is the instructor's
intention to...

• review nuclear fuel cycle schemes for
  commercial nuclear power reactors
• analyze quantitatively the quantity, the
  compositions, and the form of radioactive wastes
• characterize radioactive wastes based on
  the analysis of radioactive waste generation
• review available technologies for radioactive
  waste treatment for volume reduction, stabilization, and storage
• analyze quantitatively the change of radioactivity,
  radio-toxicity, and heat generation resulting from radioactive
  wastes with time
• review on-going research and development
  for geologic disposal of radioactive wastes and compare it with
  other disposal options, such as space disposal, and partitioning
  and transmutation.
• illustrate safety assessment for the proposed
  Yucca Mountain repository for US commercial spent fuel with simplified
  models

  Course Outcomes: Students must be
  able to...

• quantitatively estimate the volume, the
  compositions, and the radioactivity of radioactive wastes generated
  per GW electricity generated by a light water reactor
• classify radioactive wastes into high, low,
  and TRU wastes
• calculate the radio-toxicity of the radioactive
  wastes
• quantitatively estimate the temperature
  distribution in the repository, which determines the mass of radionuclide
  that can be included in the waste canister
• calculate the mass of radionuclides remaining
  in the repository and the mass of radionuclides existing in the
  region exterior to the repository as functions of time
• interpret the quantitative results of the
  repository safety assessment in the context of repository safety
  to the public

Topics covered

I. Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Radioactive Waste
Generation

• Radioactive wastes from fuel cycle activities
  (mining and milling, uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, reactor
  operation, and reprocessing)
• Classification and amount of radioactive wastes
  (low-level wastes, high-level wastes: radioactivities, toxicity)

II. Radioactive Waste Treatment Technologies

• Volume reduction and solidification of LLW
• Spent fuel storage
• Vitrification of reprocessing HLW
• Solidification of TRU wastes
• Effect of nuclear material recycling on waste
  generation

III. Radioactive Waste Disposal Technologies

• Disposal technologies for LLW
• Disposal technologies for HLW: Multi-barrier
  concept, heat analysis for buried HLW.

IV. Safety Assessment of Geological Disposal

• Regulations and standards for the proposed Yucca
  Mountain repository for spent fuel
• Mathematical performance assessment of Yucca
  Mountain repository: hydrology, radionuclide release, radionuclide
  transport.

Class/laboratory schedule

• Three 50-minute lectures per week;
• Office hours held by the teaching assistant and
  by the instructor

Contribution of course to meeting the professional
component

• This course contributes primarily to the students'
  knowledge of engineering topics, and does provide design experience.
• Environmental impacts by radioactive wastes arising
  from commercial nuclear power generation, especially high-level
  radioactive wastes (HLW) containing long-lived radionuclides,
  are considered to be the most contentious, due to the long time
  scale involved. For an enduring nuclear fuel cycle to be accepted
  by the public, a clear vision should be presented of the quantity
  and the toxicity of wastes arising from the enduring system.
• NE 124 is required for students in the Radioactive
  Waste Management area of emphasis in the three-part division of
  the Department�s curriculum. This course gives, through specific
  examples, quantitative analyses for radioactive waste management,
  with which students can understand difficulties and current issues
  on radioactive waste management. Design-related features of the
  course include the calculations of fuel-cycle mass flow, radioactivity
  generated per GW electricity generation, temperature distributions
  in the engineered barrier of the geologic repository, and the
  transport of radionuclides in geologic formations.

Relationship of course to undergraduate degree
program objectives

• This course primarily serves students in the department.
  The information below describes how the course contributes to
  the undergraduate program objectives.
• This course contributes to the radioactive-waste-management
  component of the Department�s program objectives by providing
  education in the important subdiscipline of radioactive wastes.
  It prepares students for work in the nuclear-fuel-cycle-related,
  and/or the waste-management-related groups in nuclear utilities,
  reactor vendors, government agencies, as well as providing them
  with a solid background should they wish to pursue graduate work
  in this area.

Assessment of student progress toward course objectives

• Problem sets (ten in the semester): 30%
• One midterm exam: 30%
• Final exam: 40%