Potential applications of sonochemistry in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing: A short review

The industrial treatment of spent nuclear fuel is based upon a hydrometallurgical process in nitric acid medium. In order to minimize the volume of radioactive waste it seems interesting to generate the reactive species in situ in such solutions using ultrasonic irradiation without addition of salt-forming reagents. This review summarizes for the first time the versatile sonochemical processes with uranium, neptunium and plutonium in homogeneous nitric acid solutions and heterogeneous systems. The dissolution of refractory solids, ultrasonically driven liquid–liquid extraction and the sonochemical degradation of the volatile products of organic solvent radiolysis issued from PUREX process are considered. Also the guidelines for required further work to ensure successful application of the studied processes at industrial scale are discussed.     

On the possibility of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste by plasma methods

The concept of plasma separation of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste is presented. An approach that is based on using an accelerating potential to overcome the energy and angular spread of plasma ions at the separation region inlet and utilizing a potential well to separate spatially the ions of different masses is proposed. It is demonstrated that such separation may be performed at distances of about 1 m with electrical potentials of about 1 kV and a magnetic field of about 1 kG. The estimates of energy consumption and performance of the plasma separation method are presented. These estimates illustrate its potential for technological application. The results of development and construction of an experimental setup for testing the method of plasma separation are presented.     

An optical absorption method of detecting iodine-containing substances in liquid acid media formed during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel

We propose an absorption method for determining the concentrations of iodine-containing substances (I₂ and IO ₃ ^? ) in real time in liquid acid media formed when spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed at nuclear fuel cycle plants. The essence of the method is to measure simultaneously at two wavelengths the intensity of the radiation that passes through the solution being analyzed. The sensitivity of this method allows reliable and real-time control to be exercised over both the technological process of fuel reprocessing and the operations of purification systems.     

Designing of a lead ion model source for plasma separation of spent nuclear fuel

Plasma sources of model substances are required for solving problems associated with the development of a plasma separation method for spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Lead is chosen as the substance simulating the kinetics and dynamics of the heavy SNF component. We report on the results of analysis of the discharge in lead vapor with a concentration of 10¹²–10¹³ cm^–3. Ionization is produced by an electron beam (with electron energy up to 500 eV) in the centimeter gap between planar electrodes. The discharge is simulated using the hydrodynamic and one-particle approximations. The current–voltage characteristics and efficiencies of single ionization depending on the vapor concentrations and thermoelectron current are obtained. The experimentally determined ion currents on the order of 100 μA for an ionization efficiency on the order of 0.1% are in conformity with the result of simulation.     

基于数据库进行乏燃料鉴别的多元统计分析研究

近年来,随着国际核军控形势的变化,包含防扩散、防核恐及核安保的多边国际军控合作越来越受到重视.核取证技术作为防扩散、防核恐及核安保的一项核心技术,在对涉核非法活动的威慑、阻止以及响应方面具有重要作用,值得深入研究.目前针对核取证技术的研究较多,主要集中于材料的表征和数据的解读.其中解读作为核取证研究技术中最重要的一环,所面对的对象是多种多样的,包括铀矿石、黄饼、核燃料、乏燃料等,而其中乏燃料由于其潜在的威胁越来越受到重视.本文聚焦于在核取证场景中利用多元统计分析方法进行乏燃料鉴别的研究,主要是利用因子分析、判别分析和回归分析方法对乏燃料组分进行分析,研究各方法的适用范围,并为未来可能的利用数据库进行乏燃料鉴别的工作提供理论依据与可行方案,为相关核取证溯源工作的顺利开展提供支撑.     

Quality control of metal-concrete flasks for spent nuclear fuel

The safety operation of a serial metal-concrete flask intended for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) storage requires flaw inspection of its concrete filler and testing of the radiation protection parameters of the casing for compliance to design specifications. A test bench for γ flaw detection of flasks intended for storage and transportation of SNF in an amount of (5–7) × 10³ kg with an activity of ∼10⁶ Ci is described (including its new version). The kinematics of the bench, as well as its electronics, software, and hardware solutions that improve the survivability and reliability of the instrumentation and raise the validity of measurement results, are presented.     

Gradient method for blind chaotic signal separation based on proliferation exponent

A new method to perform blind separation of chaotic signals is articulated in this paper, which takes advantage of the underlying features in the phase space for identifying various chaotic sources. Without incorporating any prior information about the source equations, the proposed algorithm can not only separate the mixed signals in just a few iterations, but also outperforms the fast independent component analysis(FastICA) method when noise contamination is considerable.     

融合声源分离及反复结构模型的音乐分离方法

针对现有的单一音乐分离算法难以分离背景音乐和歌声的问题,提出一种融合声源分离及反复结构模型的音乐分离方法。该方法首先通过迭代的方式分离出音乐的谐波声源和冲击声源,再引入节奏谱分析不同声源的能量谱矩阵,对其建立反复周期结构模型,最后保留谐波源的反复周期成分,去除冲击源的反复周期成分,得到分离后的背景音乐和歌声。针对MIR-1K数据库,对1000首音乐片段的分离实验表明,与现有分离方法对比,本文方法在分离背景音乐和歌声时均表现出优异的性能。     

Swedish containers for disposal of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste

The purpose of a disposal is to isolate the radioactive waste from man and the environment. If the isolation is broken, the leakage and transport of radioactive substances must be retarded. The package is one of several barriers, used to achieve these two main functions. For short-lived, low and intermediate level waste four standard containers of steel and concrete are used. Spent fuel will be placed in a canister consisting of a pressure-bearing insert of cast nodular iron and an outer corrosion barrier of copper before it is deposited in a deep geological repository. In particular, the development of a high integrity copper canister for the isolation of spent nuclear fuel is described in this paper. To cite this article: T. Hedman et al., C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 903–913.     

Mode separation of Lamb waves based on dispersion compensation method

Ultrasonic Lamb modes typically propagate as a combination of multiple dispersive wave packets. Frequency components of each mode distribute widely in time domain due to dispersion and it is very challenging to separate individual modes by traditional signal processing methods. In the present study, a method of dispersion compensation is proposed for the purpose of mode separation. This numerical method compensates, i.e., compresses, the individual dispersive waveforms into temporal pulses, which thereby become nearly un-overlapped in time and frequency and can thus be extracted individually by rectangular time windows. It was further illustrated that the dispersion compensation also provided a method for predicting the plate thickness. Finally, based on reversibility of the numerical compensation method, an artificial dispersion technique was used to restore the original waveform of each mode from the separated compensated pulse. Performances of the compensation separation techniques were evaluated by processing synthetic and experimental signals which consisted of multiple Lamb modes with high dispersion. Individual modes were extracted with good accordance with the original waveforms and theoretical predictions.     

High-efficiency spatial color separation method based on fractional Talbot effect

Based on fractional Talbot effect, Talbot grating is adopted to realize spatial color separation with high light efficiency. For red and green colors, a two-step Talbot grating is optimized and the light efficiency reaches over 95%. The two-step Talbot grating is fabricated and tested. Experimental results show that the Talbot grating indeed has the good ability of spatial color separation.     

基于多波段光源的智能痕迹分色方法

针对常规分色摄影技术难以获得清晰可辨的图像信息和丰富的纹理特征,设计了一种基于多波段光源的痕迹分色摄影智能系统。通过STM32、LED、加色效应、互补色原理设计多波段光源模块,解决不同痕迹背景对应单色光的选择问题;通过混合式步进电机、DEV8825电机驱动模块和STM32,设计可上下、左右移动的光源模块,解决最佳配光位置的寻找问题;通过改进的FS-SIFT配准算法和引入二代Curvelet融合算法,设计两者相结合的图像处理系统,解决了常规摄影中痕迹提取与图像处理未同步的问题。实验结果表明,该系统摄影的痕迹图像,其背景与痕迹间的亮度反差更大,质量更好;经改进的FS-SIFT算法配准及二代Curvelet算法融合处理后,图像标准差平均提升1.25倍,信息熵平均提升1.70倍,平均梯度平均提升1.46倍,所得图像平均信息量和纹理特征更丰富。     

一种基于人工蜂群算法的混沌信号盲分离方法

混沌信号所固有的非周期、宽带频谱和对初值极度敏感等特性使得对这类信号进行盲分离极为困难. 针对这一问题, 提出一种新的盲分离方法, 该方法通过相空间重构来构造代价函数, 将混沌信号的盲分离转化为一个无约束优化问题, 并利用人工蜂群算法进行求解. 不同于现有的独立成分分析方法仅使用混合信号的统计特性来解决分离问题, 该方法能充分利用混合信号内在的动态特性, 因而在处理混沌信号这种确定性信号时能获得更好的分离效果. 此外, 正交矩阵的参数化表示有效地降低了盲分离问题的复杂性, 使优化过程能快速收敛. 实验结果表明, 该方法具有较快的收敛速度和较高的数值精度, 在分离混沌信号时其整体性能优于现有的几种盲分离方法. 同时, 在分离混沌-高斯混合信号的实验中该方法也展现出优异良好的性能, 这表明该文的方法有应用潜力.     

High-efficiency color separation method based on fractional Talbot effect for color liquid crystal display

Based on the fractional Talbot effect of Talbot grating, a new method with high light efficiency for color separation in color liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is proposed. The light efficiency of 85% and 89% are obtained by three- and four-step Talbot gratings, respectively, which are rather higher than that of using color filter, the traditional color separation method in color LCDs. This method has large tolerance to the position error of the color separation plane, the wavelength changes of red, green and blue colors, and the step height errors of the gratings.     

基于总体最小二乘算法的平稳声信号二阶盲分离方法

利用声源信号相互独立的已知条件,提出分离平稳声信号的总体最小二乘二阶盲分离算法,该算法在联合近似对角化相关函数矩阵的约束下估计分离矩阵,在同时考虑估计矩阵与观测信号误差的情况下给出修正模型,在修正模型总体误差最小时分离源信号。提出的算法具有无需选择非线性函数,不存在收敛到局部最小值与计算速度快的特点,分离的声源信号具有较小的失真。半消音室电机噪声分离实验验证了上述算法的有效性。     

FCM-FastICA的点蚀声发射信号分离识别方法*

金属点蚀是一种破坏性和隐患较大的设备损伤形式。点蚀会产生声发射信号。点蚀过程中产生的多种声源类型会造成信号混叠,影响腐蚀进程的判断。针对点蚀信号混叠问题,提出一种模糊C均值聚类与快速独立分量分析算法相结合的点蚀信号分离识别方法。通过分析单、双点蚀声发射数据将点蚀分为钝化膜破裂阶段、点蚀诱导成核及发展阶段,由聚类确定信号类别并用快速独立分量分析分离混合信号,利用相关性函数验证分离效果。结果表明：单点蚀过程存在3类原信号,双点蚀过程存在7类信号,其中包含单个信号与混合信号;单个信号与原信号相关性极高,达到0.8以上,混合信号的分离分量与原信号相关性达到0.6以上,分离效果较好。该方法可对点蚀混合信号进行有效分离和识别,为腐蚀进程判断提供支持。     

基于话者状态检测的自适应语音分离方法的研究

提出了一种基于话者状态检测的语音分离算法。该算法对话者状态进行自动检测,并根据相应的状态对自适应滤波过程加以控制,以此对各路的声场传递函数进行估计,进而使混合的语音信号得到分离。仿真实验结果表明:与传统的输出信号互为参考的信号的分离算法相比,该算法克服了参考信号不纯导致自适应语音分离结果恶化的缺陷;该算法不需要人为地降低自适应滤波器的收敛速度,所以具有较快的收敛和跟踪性能;此外,该算法还具有运算量较小,实时性好等特点。     

Possibility of separating spent nuclear fuel components by a plasma method in azimuthal magnetic and radial electric fields

We consider the method of plasma separation of spent nuclear fuel in a system with an azimuthal magnetic field and the electric potential produced by electrodes located in a magnetized plasma. The results of calculation of trajectories of ions simulating uranium and the first peak of its fission products in the oneparticle approximation are described. The effect of the initial position and the initial velocity of ions on their trajectories is analyzed. The conditions ensuring the spatial separation of ions in the groups of masses admissible for practical realization are specified; it is shown that currents on the order of 100 kA through the central conductor and electrostatic potentials on the order of 1 kV are required for this purpose.     

Analogous materials for studying spent nuclear fuel: The influence of particle size distribution on the specific surface area of irradiated nuclear fuel

Knowledge of the reactive surface that a given material presents to reactive species is one of the fundamental factors for the discussion of experimental data from the alteration of a solid at laboratory scale, or the extrapolation to different environmental conditions. The reactive surface depends on several factors such as the origin of the solid, for example, history of irradiation, the particle size distribution and the history of its reactive surface.Here we discuss the relation between the particle size distribution and the specific surface area for different uranium oxides, namely, irradiated fuel, SIMFUEL and several fresh - non-irradiated - uranium oxides. The analysis is made comparing our own data with values reported in the literature. Our analysis strongly suggests that it is necessary to establish the surface area time evolution in order to model its behaviour in different scenarios where the alteration process will happen. Moreover, this is required in both, dry and wet conditions. A first step to get this function is the determination of the particle size distribution dependence of the specific surface area.