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Marcoule
Marcoule Nuclear Site (french: Site nucléaire de Marcoule) is a nuclear facility in the Chusclan and Codolet communes, near Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the Gard department of France, which is in the tourist, wine and agricultural Côtes-du-Rhône region. The plant is around 25 km north west of Avignon, on the banks of the Rhone. Operational since 1956, Marcoule is a gigantic site run by the atomic energy organization Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) and Areva NC and is known as CEA VALRHO Marcoule. The first industrial and military plutonium experiments took place in Marcoule. Diversification of the site was started in the 1970s with the creation of the Phénix prototype fast breeder reactor, which was operational until 2009, and is nowadays an important site for decommissioning nuclear facilities activities. the Phénix reactor was planned to be succeeded by the sodium-cooled fast reactor ASTRID (Advanced Sodium Technical Reactor for Industrial Demonstration), foreseen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phénix
Phénix (French for phoenix) was a small-scale (gross 264/net 233 MWe) prototype fast breeder reactor, located at the Marcoule nuclear site, near Orange, France. It was a pool-type liquid-metal fast breeder reactor cooled with liquid sodium. It generated 590 MW of thermal power, and had a breeding ratio of 1.16 (16% more plutonium produced than consumed), but normally had to be stopped for refueling operations every two months. Phénix continued operating after the closure of the subsequent full-scale prototype Superphénix in 1997. After 2004, its main use was investigation of transmutation of nuclear waste while also generating some electricity. Phénix was shut down in 2009. Construction of Phénix began in November 1968. The first connection to the French national electricity grid was in December 1973. Plans for a French fast reactor date as far back as 1958's ''Rapsodie'', and followed up in 1964 for a larger design with a power output of 1 GWe. Construction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons. With commercialization of nuclear power, the reprocessed plutonium was recycled back into MOX nuclear fuel for thermal reactors. The reprocessed uranium, also known as the spent fuel material, can in principle also be re-used as fuel, but that is only economical when uranium supply is low and prices are high. A breeder reactor is not restricted to using recycled plutonium and uranium. It can employ all the actinides, closing the nuclear fuel cycle and potentially multiplying the energy extracted from natural uranium by about 60 times. Reprocessing must be highly controlled and carefully executed in advanced facilities by highly specialized personnel. Fuel bundles which arrive at the sites from nuclear power plants (after having cooled down for several years) are completely dissolv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UNGG Reactor
The UNGG (''Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz'') is an obsolete nuclear power reactor design developed in France. It was graphite neutron moderator, moderated, cooled by carbon dioxide, and fueled with natural uranium metal. The first generation of French nuclear power stations were UNGGs, as was Vandellos unit 1 in Spain. Of the ten units built, all were shut down by the end of 1994, most for economic reasons due to staffing costs. The UNGG and the Magnox are the two main types of gas cooled reactor (GCR). A UNGG reactor is often referred to simply as a ''GCR'' in English documents, or sometimes loosely as a ''Magnox''. It was developed independently of and in parallel to the British Magnox design, and to meet similar requirements of simultaneous production of electric power and plutonium. The first UNGG reactors at Marcoule used horizontal fuel channels and a concrete containment structure. Chinon Nuclear Power Plant, Chinon A1 used vertical fuel channels, as did the British Magnox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities
Nuclear decommissioning is the process whereby a nuclear facility is dismantled to the point that it no longer requires measures for radiation protection. The presence of radioactive material necessitates processes that are potentially occupationally hazardous, expensive, time-intensive, and present environmental risks that must be addressed to ensure radioactive materials are either transported elsewhere for storage or stored on-site in a safe manner.Benjamin K. Sovacool. "A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia", ''Journal of Contemporary Asia'', Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2010, p. 373. The challenge in nuclear decommissioning is not just technical, but also economical and social. Decommissioning is an administrative and technical process. It includes clean-up of radioactive materials and progressive demolition of the facility. Once a facility is fully decommissioned, no radiological danger should persist. The costs of decommissioning are gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ASTRID (reactor)
ASTRID (''Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration'') was a proposal for a 600 MW sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor ( Generation IV), proposed by the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). It was to be built on the Marcoule Nuclear Site in France. It was the successor of the three French fast reactors Rapsodie, Phénix and Superphénix. The main goals of ASTRID were the multi-recycling of plutonium, aiming at preserving natural uranium resources, minor actinide transmutation, aiming at reducing nuclear waste, and an enhanced safety comparable to Generation III reactors, such as the EPR. It was envisaged as a 600 MW industrial prototype connected to the grid. A commercial series of 1500 MW SFR reactors was planned to be deployed around 2050. As of 2012, the project involved 500 people, with almost half among industrial partners. Those included Électricité de France, Areva, Alstom Power Systems, Comex Nucléaire, Jacobs France, Toshiba and Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Areva NC
Orano Cycle, formerly COGEMA (''Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires'') and Areva NC, is a French nuclear company. It is the main subsidiary of Orano S.A. It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling. The company was originally created in 1976. In 2001, it became part of Areva; its name was changed to ''Areva NC'' in March 2006. As a result of restructuring of Areva, Areva NC became part of Orano and changed its name to Orano Cycle. History In 1976, ''Compagnie générale des mines'' was created based on the uranium production activities of ''Commissariat à l'énergie atomique'' (CEA). Later it was renamed ''Compagnie Générale des Matières Nucléaire'' (COGEMA). As of 1999, COGEMA was majority owned by CEA (81.5%) with minority owned by Total S.A. (15%) and Technip (3.5%). It also owned stakes in Framatome and Eramet. In June 2001, Cogema becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commissariat à L'Énergie Atomique
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA (French language, French: :fr:Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. The CEA maintains a cross-disciplinary culture of engineers and researchers, building on the synergies between fundamental and technological research. CEA is headed by a board headed by the general administrator (currently François Jacq since 20 April 2018), advised by the high-commissioner for atomic energy (currently Patrick Landais). Its yearly budget amounts to €5.1 billion and its permanent staff is slightly over 20,500 persons. It owned Areva. CEA was created in 1945; since then, the successive high-commissioners have been Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Francis Perrin (physicist), Francis Perrin, J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
COGEMA La Hague Site
The La Hague site is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague on the Cotentin Peninsula in northern France, with the Manche storage centre bordering on it. Operated by Orano, formerly AREVA, and prior to that COGEMA (''Compagnie générale des matières atomiques''), La Hague has nearly half of the world's light water reactor spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capacity. It has been in operation since 1976, and has a capacity of about 1,700 tonnes per year. It extracts plutonium which is then recycled into MOX fuel at the Marcoule site. It has treated spent nuclear fuel from France, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. It processed 1100 tonnes in 2005. The non-recyclable part of the radioactive waste is eventually sent back to the user nation. Prior to 2015, more than 32,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel has been reprocessed, with 70% of that from France, 17% from Germany and 9% from Japan. Operations Spent nuclear fuel roughly consists o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fast Breeder
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile material, such as uranium-238 or thorium-232, that is loaded into the reactor along with fissile fuel. Breeders were at first found attractive because they made more complete use of uranium fuel than light water reactors, but interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found,Helmreich, J.E. ''Gathering Rare Ores: The Diplomacy of Uranium Acquisition, 1943–1954'', Princeton UP, 1986: ch. 10 and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs. Fuel efficiency and types of nuclear waste Breeder reactors could, in principle, extract almost all of the energy contained in uranium or thorium, decreasing fuel requirements by a factor of 100 compared to widely used once-through light water reactors, which extract less th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagnols-sur-Cèze
Bagnols-sur-Cèze (, literally ''Bagnols on Cèze''; oc, Banhòus de Céser) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie région in southern France. History A small regional center, Bagnols-sur-Cèze was quite certainly a Roman town (the name of the town comes from the Latin meaning “related to baths, bathing-place”) before the main part was built in the 13th century around a central arcaded square that is still preserved today. At the same period, the regional market was installed here, undoubtedly contributing to its expansion. Population Bagnols-sur-Ceze expanded steadily after the Marcoule nuclear center was established in 1956. Sights The old center of Bagnols-sur-Cèze retains its historic feel, with small streets and largely preserved architecture. Several façades are remarkable. The towns contains a notable museum of contemporary art, the Musée Albert-André, founded in 1868 as well as an archaeological museum with a collection of artifacts found m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Fuel
Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing and sustaining nuclear fission. The three most relevant fissile isotopes are uranium-233, uranium-235 and plutonium-239. When the unstable nuclei of these atoms are hit by a slow-moving neutron, they frequently split, creating two daughter nuclei and two or three more neutrons. In that case, the neutrons released go on to split more nuclei. This creates a self-sustaining chain reaction that is controlled in a nuclear reactor, or uncontrolled in a nuclear weapon. Alternatively, if the nucleus absorbs the neutron without splitting, it creates a heavier nucleus with one additional neutron. The processes involved in mining, refining, purifying, using, and disposing of nuclear fuel are collectively known as the nuclear fuel cycle. Not all typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radioactive Waste
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing. The storage and disposal of radioactive waste is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment. Radioactive waste is broadly classified into low-level waste (LLW), such as paper, rags, tools, clothing, which contain small amounts of mostly short-lived radioactivity, intermediate-level waste (ILW), which contains higher amounts of radioactivity and requires some shielding, and high-level waste (HLW), which is highly radioactive and hot due to decay heat, so requires cooling and shielding. In nuclear reprocessing plants about 96% of spent nuclear fuel is recycled back into uranium-based and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels. The residual 4% is minor actinides and fission products the latter of w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
