Advantages of Production of New Fissionable Nuclides for the Nuclear Power Industry in Hybrid Fusion-Fission Reactors

A concept of a large-scale nuclear power engineering system equipped with fusion and fission reactors is presented. The reactors have a joint fuel cycle, which imposes the lowest risk of the radiation impact on the environment. The formation of such a system is considered within the framework of the evolution of the current nuclear power industry with the dominance of thermal reactors, gradual transition to the thorium fuel cycle, and integration into the system of the hybrid fusion-fission reactors for breeding nuclear fuel for fission reactors. Such evolution of the nuclear power engineering system will allow preservation of the existing structure with the dominance of thermal reactors, enable the reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) with low burnup, and prevent the dangerous accumulation of minor actinides. The proposed structure of the nuclear power engineering system minimizes the risk of radioactive contamination of the environment and the SNF reprocessing facilities, decreasing it by more than one order of magnitude in comparison with the proposed scheme of closing the uranium–plutonium fuel cycle based on the reprocessing of SNF with high burnup from fast reactors.     

The physics of accelerator driven sub-critical reactors

In recent years, there has been an increasing worldwide interest in accelerator driven systems (ADS) due to their perceived superior safety characteristics and their potential for burning actinides and long-lived fission products. Indian interest in ADS has an additional dimension, which is related to our planned large-scale thorium utilization for future nuclear energy generation. The physics of ADS is quite different from that of critical reactors. As such, physics studies on ADS reactors are necessary for gaining an understanding of these systems. Development of theoretical tools and experimental facilities for studying the physics of ADS reactors constitute important aspect of the ADS development program at BARC. This includes computer codes for burnup studies based on transport theory and Monte Carlo methods, codes for studying the kinetics of ADS and sub-critical facilities driven by 14 MeV neutron generators for ADS experiments and development of sub-criticality measurement methods. The paper discusses the physics issues specific to ADS reactors and presents the status of the reactor physics program and some of the ADS concepts under study.      

Third generation nuclear plants

After the Chernobyl accident, a new generation of Light Water Reactors has been designed and is being built. Third generation nuclear plants are equipped with dedicated systems to insure that if the worst accident were to occur, i.e. total core meltdown, no matter how low the probability of such occurrence, radioactive releases in the environment would be minimal. This article describes the EPR, representative of this “Generation III” and a few of its competitors on the world market.     

微观描述热核裂变寿命（英文）

有关热核裂变的研究与反应堆中的诱发裂变,天体环境中的裂变,以及超重元素的合成等密切相关。热核裂变的研究通常是基于Bohr-Wheeler 的统计裂变理论。而统计模型的研究十分依赖唯像的能级密度和位能面。因此,提出基于微观的有限温度的能量密度泛函理论计算热核的裂变寿命。可以微观自洽地计算出温度相关的裂变位垒高度,曲率,集体质量参数。基于虚自由能法,从低温到高温的裂变寿命可以由一个统一的框架给出。展示了在裂变研究中温度相关裂变位垒的重要性,并讨论了微观描述热核裂变的前景。The studies of thermal fission rates are relevant to novel reactors, astrophysical environments, and survival probabilities of compound superheavy nuclei. This has been conventionally studied by the Bohr-Wheeler statistical model that depends on phenomenological level densities and fission barriers. In this context, we propose to study the thermal fission rates based on microscopic temperature dependent nuclear energy density functional theory. The microscopic temperature dependent fission barrier heights and curvatures, and collective mass parameters can be self-consistently obtained. The fission lifetimes from low to high temperatures can be given by the imaginary free energy method in a consistent framework. Microscopic temperature dependent fission barriers play an essential role in fission studies.     

Delayed fission of atomic nuclei (To the 50th anniversary of the discovery)

The history of the discovery of delayed nuclear fission is presented, and the retrospective of investigations into this phenomenon that were performed at various research centers worldwide is outlined. The results obtained by measuring basic delayed-fission features, including the fission probability, the total kinetic energy of fission fragments, and their mass distributions, are analyzed. Recommendations concerning further studies in various regions of nuclear map with the aim of searches for and investigation of atomic nuclei undergoing delayed fission are given. Lines of further research into features of delayed fission with the aim of solving current problems of fission physics are discussed.     

Phenomenological nuclear-reaction description in deuterium-saturated palladium and synthesized structure in dense deuterium gas under γ-quanta irradiation

The observed phenomena of changes of chemical compositions in previous reports [1, 2] allowed us to develop a phenomenological nuclear fusion-fission model with taking into consideration the elastic and inelastic scattering of photoprotons and photoneutrons, heating of surrounding deuterium nuclei, following d-d fusion reactions and fission of middle-mass nuclei by “hot” protons, deuterons and various-energy neutrons. Such chain processes could produce the necessary number of neutrons, “hot” deuterons for explanation of observed experimental results [1, 2]. The developed approach can be a basis for creation of deuterated nuclear fission reactors (DNFR) with high-density deuterium gas and the so-called deuterated metals. Also, this approach can be used for the study of nuclear reactions in high-density deuterium or tritium gas and deuterated metals.     

Selected topics of quantum computing for nuclear physics

Nuclear physics,whose underling theory is described by quantum gauge field coupled with matter,is fundamentally important and yet is formidably challenge for simulation with classical computers.Quantum computing provides a perhaps transformative approach for studying and understanding nuclear physics.With rapid scaling-up of quantum processors as well as advances on quantum algorithms,the digital quantum simulation approach for simulating quantum gauge fields and nuclear physics has gained lots of attention.In this review,we aim to summarize recent efforts on solving nuclear physics with quantum computers.We first discuss a formulation of nuclear physics in the language of quantum computing.In particular,we review how quantum gauge fields(both Abelian and non-Abelian)and their coupling to matter field can be mapped and studied on a quantum computer.We then introduce related quantum algorithms for solving static properties and real-time evolution for quantum systems,and show their applications for a broad range of problems in nuclear physics,including simulation of lattice gauge field,solving nucleon and nuclear structures,quantum advantage for simulating scattering in quantum field theory,non-equilibrium dynamics,and so on.Finally,a short outlook on future work is given.     

Shell structure and orbit bifurcations in finite fermion systems

We first give an overview of the shell-correction method which was developed by V.M. Strutinsky as a practicable and efficient approximation to the general self-consistent theory of finite fermion systems suggested by A.B. Migdal and collaborators. Then we present in more detail a semiclassical theory of shell effects, also developed by Strutinsky following original ideas of M.C. Gutzwiller. We emphasize, in particular, the influence of orbit bifurcations on shell structure. We first give a short overview of semiclassical trace formulae, which connect the shell oscillations of a quantum system with a sum over periodic orbits of the corresponding classical system, in what is usually called the “periodic orbit theory”. We then present a case study in which the gross features of a typical double-humped nuclear fission barrier, including the effects of mass asymmetry, can be obtained in terms of the shortest periodic orbits of a cavity model with realistic deformations relevant for nuclear fission. Next we investigate shell structures in a spheroidal cavity model which is integrable and allows for far-going analytical computation. We show, in particular, how period-doubling bifurcations are closely connected to the existence of the so-called “superdeformed” energy minimum which corresponds to the fission isomer of actinide nuclei. Finally, we present a general class of radial power-law potentials which approximate well the shape of a Woods-Saxon potential in the bound region, give analytical trace formulae for it and discuss various limits (including the harmonic oscillator and the spherical box potentials).     

A real signal and its states

The paper describes the general physical theory of signals, carriers of information, which supplements Shannon’s abstract classical theory and is applicable in much broader fields, including nuclear physics. It is shown that in the absence of classical noise its place should be taken by the physical threshold of signal perception for objects of both macrocosm and microcosm. The signal perception threshold allows the presence of subthreshold (virtual) signal states. For these states, Boolean algebra of logic (A = 0/1) is transformed into the “algebraic logic” of probabilities (0 ≤ a ≤ 1). The similarity and difference of virtual states of macroand microsignals are elucidated. “Real” and “quantum” information for computers is considered briefly. The maximum information transmission rate is estimated based on physical constants.     

Cesium,americium and plutonium isotopes in ground level air of Vilnius

Systematic observations of radionuclide composition and concentration in the atmosphere have been carried out at the Institute of Physics in Vilnius since 1963. Increases in activity concentration of radionuclides in the atmosphere were observed after nuclear weapon tests and the Chernobyl NPP accident. At present the radiation situation in Lithuania is determined by two main sources of radionuclides, forest fire and resuspension products transferred from highly polluted region of the Ukraine and Belarus. The activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs were measured in two to three days samples while plutonium and americium in monthly samples. The extremely high activity concentrations of ²³⁸Pu, ^239,240Pu, ²⁴¹Am determined in the atmosphere during the Chernobyl accident can be explained by transport of “hot particles” of different composition. Activity concentration in 1995–2003 of ²⁴¹Am and ^239,240Pu isotopes ranged from 0.3 to 500 and from 1 to 500 nBq/m³, respectively. ²³⁸Pu/^239,240Pu activity ratio in measured samples differs from 0.03 to 0.45. A decrease in ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu atomic ratio from 0.30 to 0.19 was observed in 1995–2003.     

Neutrino geophysics at Baksan I: Possible detection of georeactor antineutrinos

J.M. Herndon in the 1990s proposed a natural nuclear fission georeactor at the center of the Earth with a power output of 3–10 TW as an energy source to sustain the Earth magnetic field. R. S. Raghavan in 2002 pointed out that, under certain conditions, antineutrinos generated in such a georeactor can be detected using massive scintillation detectors. We consider the underground Baksan Neutrino Observatory (4800 m.w.e.) as a possible site for developments in geoneutrino physics. Here, the intrinsic background level of less than 1 event/yr in a liquid scintillation ～1000-t target detector can be achieved and the main source of background is the antineutrino flux from power reactors. We find that this flux is ～10 times lower than at the KamLAND detector site and two times lower than at the Gran Sasso laboratory and thus at Baksan the georeactor hypothesis can be conclusively tested. We also discuss possible searches for the composition of georeactor burning nuclear fuel by analysis of the antineutrino energy spectrum.     

Quantenfeldtheorie wechselwirkender Vielteilchensysteme zur semiklassischen Beschreibung von kollektiver Bewegung mit großen Amplituden

By using path integral methods a collective quantum field theory of interacting many-body systems is developed, the classical limit of which is given by the time-dependent mean-field approximation. In this way the mean-field approximation is embedded into the full quantum mechanics and the quantum corrections to the “classical” mean-field approximation can be systematically evaluated. By including the dominant quantum corrections to the mean-field approximation a semiclassical theory of large amplitude collective motions in many-body-systems, which show a highly nonlinear dynamic and are not accessible to perturbation theoretical methods, is derived. The semiclassical theory is developed explicitly for bound states and decay processes like nuclear fission. In the case of bound states this leads to the quantization of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock-Theory, which is demonstrated for a uniform nuclear rotation.     

Supernovae and properties of matter in the densest and most rarefied states

An overview of the relationship between the astrophysics of supernovae and fundamental physics is given. It is shown how astronomical observations of supernovae are used to determine the parameters of matter in the most rarefied states (“dark energy”); it is also revealed that the mechanism of supernovae explosion is related to the properties of matter in the densest states. The distinction between thermonuclear and collapsing supernovae is explained. Some problems that arise in the theory of powerful cosmic explositions—supernovae and gamma-ray bursts—and which require new physics for solving them are indicated.     

核科学百年讲座第三讲核 能与核武器

核能有两个最具影响的应用：一是它的和平利用——核电(第四讲介绍)，另一是它的军事应用——核武器．文章将介绍核能和核武器基本原理以及核燃料生产方法．首先简要介绍核裂变能与聚变能；然后比较详细地说明原子弹的基本原理，包括中子增殖、自持裂变链式反应条件、临界质量和两种形式原子弹的结构原理等，对于氢弹、中子弹的原理仅作简单介绍；最后，对核燃料的生产：铀同位素分离和钚—239的反应堆生产作了原理性的介绍。     

Application of SSNTDs to investigations of radiation accident after-effects

Track methods and devices used for studies conducted after radiation accidents are considered. Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTDs) are applied for measurements of contamination in soil, water, biological and other objects of alpha-emitting radionuclides, as well as for estimation of neutron doses by means accident dosimeters. Known radiation accidents (Chernobyl a.o.) and potential emergencies (sunken submarine “Komsomolets”, nuclear reactors) are discussed. Some result of SSNTD application at after-accident period are presented.     

Nuclear physics and ideas of quantum chaos

The field nowadays called “many-body quantum chaos” was started in 1939 with the article by I.I. Gurevich studying the regularities of nuclear spectra. The field has been extensively developed recently, both mathematically and in application to mesoscopic systems and quantum fields. We argue that nuclear physics and the theory of quantum chaos are mutually beneficial. Many ideas of quantum chaos grew up from the factual material of nuclear physics; this enrichment still continues to take place. On the other hand, many phenomena in nuclear structure and reactions, as well as the general problem of statistical physics of finite strongly interacting systems, can be understood much deeper with the help of ideas and methods borrowed from the field of quantum chaos. A brief review of the selected topics related to the recent development is presented.     

核能和物理学

本文分别讨论了实现裂变和聚变核能的利用与物理学各学科（核物理、中子物理、等离子体物理、磁流体力学、材料物理、热物理、剂量防护、堆物理）研究工作的相互促进关系。     

Massive Nordström scalar (density) gravities from universal coupling

Both particle physics and the 1890s Seeliger–Neumann modification of Newtonian gravity suggest considering a “mass term” for gravity, yielding a finite range due to an exponentially decaying Yukawa potential. Unlike Nordström’s “massless” theory, massive scalar gravities are strictly Special Relativistic, being invariant under the Poincaré group but not the conformal group. Geometry is a poor guide to understanding massive scalar gravities: matter sees a conformally flat metric, but gravity also sees the rest of the flat metric, barely, in the mass term. Infinitely many theories exhibit this bimetric ‘geometry,’ all with the total stress–energy’s trace as source. All are new except the Freund–Nambu theory. The smooth massless limit indicates underdetermination of theories by data between massless and massive scalar gravities. The ease of accommodating electrons, protons and other fermions using density-weighted Ogievetsky–Polubarinov spinors in scalar gravity is noted.