Accelerator-based gamma neutron transmutation of radionuclides as a new technology for the nuclear fuel cycle

A new transmuting technology for incinerating long-lived nuclear waste and breeding fissile fuel is proposed as an application of the physical approach. The physical parameters of the technology, such as a transmuting rate, an intensity of photoneutrons generated in the gamma transmutation process, an energetic “cost” of a transmutation event have been determined by multigroup calculations. It is shown that the approach proposed allows any long-lived radionuclide (both transuranium actinide and fission product) to be transmuted at a much greater rate than that of its build-up in any operating NPP reactor at a much less energy consumption than an energy accompanying their production in a reactor core. To realize the technology proposed requirements to a cyclic electron accelerator have been formulated