Thesis (Master's)--University of California, Berkeley, 1959. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-34).

Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--Mainz.

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No description available.

No description available.

Recent nuclear proliferation concerns and disarmament agreements have encouraged the U.S. to decrease the excess amount of weapons-grade and reactor-grade plutonium. Continued use of nuclear power without a permanent solution for waste disposition has also led to the need for a reliable method by which the waste products, specifically plutonium, can be utilized or destroyed. One possible solution to plutonium destruction is achieved by manufacturing it into small microspheres and embedding it within an inert metal matrix, then placing it inside a conventional nuclear reactor. This process would burn some of the plutonium while producing electricity. PuO2Zr dispersion fuel has been proposed for such a purpose. Prior to its use, however, this non-fertile metal matrix dispersion fuel must be shown to be mechanically stable in the reactor environment. The internal mechanical interactions of dispersion fuel were modeled using finite element analysis. The results were used to assess the stability of PuO2Zr dispersion fuel inside a reactor. Several parameters, including fuel particle size, volumetric loading, temperature, and burnup, were varied to determine the maximum amount of plutonium that can be burned while maintaining fuel integrity. Earlier experiments using UO2 stainless steel dispersion fuels were used to validate the model and establish a failure criterion. The validated model was then used to determine the parameter space over which PuO2Zr dispersion fuel can be successfully used. These results show that PuO2Zr dispersion fuel is robust and may offer a reliable method for plutonium disposal in current reactors.

L’exploitation de l’énergie nucléaire pour la production d’électricité présente un défi de gestion des e˜uents radiotoxiques pour les générations présentes et futures. Face à ce constat, la communauté des chimistes recherche continument à améliorer les solutions de traitement et de recyclage du combustible usé. Dans le contrôle de ces procédés, les opérations d’analyse jouent un rôle primordial. La miniaturisation des procédés est un des enjeux principaux de la recherche en sûreté nucléaire, dans un e˙ort de réduction des risques, des délais et des coûts des activités de laboratoire. Dans ce contexte, les travaux présentés ici sont issus d’une collaboration entre le CEA de Marcoule et l’IMEP-LAHC et traitent de la mise au point d’un microsystème optofluidique sur verre, adapté à la mesure de concentration de plutonium (VI) en acide nitrique. Une source de lumière sonde est confinée dans un guide d’onde obtenu par échange d’ions et interagit par onde évanescente avec un canal microfluidique. La raie d’absorption à 832 nm du Pu(VI) dans la solution à analyser devient donc observable dans le spectre de la lumière après une certaine longueur d’interaction. Un des enjeux principaux est de fabriquer un capteur très robuste, fonctionnel en boîte à gants. L’assemblage du dispositif est e˙ectué par collage moléculaire avec un procédé permettant d’atteindre une énergie de surface > 2, 5 J·m2 suÿsante à garantir la tenue du dispositifs à des pressions testées jusqu’à 2 bars dans les canaux. Les fonctions optiques et fluidiques du dispositif sont complètement interfacées avec des fibres optiques et des capillaires fluidiques. Des mesures spectrales d’une solution de plutonium (VI) en acide nitrique ont permis de vérifier la compatibilité de la solution technologique abordée pour la manipulation d’acides forts et la résistance à l’irradiation. Le système présente une limite de détection de 1,6·10−2 mol·L−1 Pu(VI) pour un volume sondé inférieur à 1 nano-litre, au sein d’un microcanal de 21 micro-litres. Une structure permettant d’optimiser la sensibilité du capteur ainsi que le volume du canal est étudiée en perspective du travail de thèse, afin d’atteindre les performances équivalentes à des outils commerciaux pour des volumes sondés de l’ordre de quelques nano-litres. / .The use of nuclear energy for electricity production presents an important concern with radiotoxic waste management for present and future generations. In view of this fact, the chemists’ community has been searching for solutions to treat and recycle nu-clear fuel. The miniaturization of chemical processes is extensively sought out nowerdays, in an attempt to reduce laboratory acivity risks, delays and costs. The researched ana-lytical innovation requires subsequent development of appropriate analysis tools. In this respect, the work presented here addresses the development of co-integrated optofluidic micro-systems on borosilicate glass, compatible with nuclear e˜uent analysis constraints. A spectrometric sensor is designed, fabricated, interfaced and characterized in a nuclear environement. An optical waveguide and a microfluidic channel are designed adjacent to one another in order to obtain wide-spectrum absorption spectroscopy measurements by light/fluid evanescent interaction. Both ion-exchange technology and wet-etching tech-nologies were used to create the optical and fluidic planar functions. The device is assem-bled by direct molecular bonding with an optimized protocole which withstands surface energies > 2, 5 J·m2. Sensor optical and fluidic functions are interfaced with fiber optics and fluid capillaries in order for the chip to be used within a plug-and-play detection chain. Spectral measurements of a plutonium(VI) in nitric acid solution have allowed to verify the technological solution’s compatibility with harsh acid manipulation and irra-diation resistance. The system put together for the detection of plutonium(VI) displays a detection limit of 1.6×10−2 mol·L−1 for a probed volume below 1 nano-liter, inside a 21 micro-liter channel. A new sensor design is studied in the thesis work perspectives in order to optimize sensor detection limit and channel volume and reach industrial tools analytical performances with nano-liter sample volumes.