Advanced Heavy Water Reactor: A New Step Toward Sustainability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v8i3A.1368Keywords:
advanced heavy water reactor, thorium-based nuclear power, India nuclear program, Brazilian thorium group, green chemistryAbstract
One of the great advances in the current evolution of nuclear power reactors is occurring in India, with the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR). It is a reactor that uses thorium as part of its fuel, which in its two fueling cycle options, in conjunction with plutonium or low enriched uranium, produces energy at the commercial level, generating less actinides of long half-life and inert thorium oxide, which leads to an optimization in the proportion of energy produced versus the production of burnt fuels of the order of up to 50%. The objective of this work is to present the most recent research and projects in progress in India, and how the expected results should be in compliance with the current sustainability models and programs, especially the "Green Chemistry", a program developed since the 1990s in the United States and England, which defines sustainable choices in its twelve principles and that can also be mostly related to the nuclear field. Nevertheless, in Brazil, for more than 40 years there has been the discontinuation of research for a thorium-fueled reactor, and so far there has been no prospect of future projects. The AHWR is an important example as an alternative way of producing energy in Brazil, as the country has the second largest reserve of thorium on the planet.- Views: 248
- PDF Downloads: 149
Downloads
References
SINHA, R. K. Advanced nuclear reactor systems – an Indian perspective. Energy Procedia, v. 7, p. 34-50, 2011.
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency. Green Chemistry, 2019. Available at : <https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
AHT - Atomic Heritage Foundation. India nuclear program, 2018. Available at: <https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/indian-nuclear-program>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
KANNAN, U. ; KRISHNANI, P. Energy from thorium - an Indian perspective. Sadhana, India, v. 38, n. 5, p. 817-837, 2013.
WCED - World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future (Brundtland Report). New York City : Oxford University Press, 1987.
AGÊNCIA ESTADO. O Que É Desenvolvimento Sustentável. O Estado de São Paulo, 28 July 2004. Available at: <https://educacao.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,o-que-e-desenvolvimento-sustentavel,20040728p8329>. Last accessed : 10 June 2020.
WEBBER, M. J. ; RIGBY, D. L. The golden age illusion: rethinking postwar capitalism. New York City : The Guilford Press, 1996.
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Intergovern-mental Conference of Experts on the Scientific Basis for Rational Use and Conservation of the Resources of the Biosphere, 1968. Available at : <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED047952.pdf>. Last accessed : 10 June 2020.
MEADOWS, D. H. ; MEADOWS, D. L . ; RANDERS, J. ; W.W. BEHRENS III, J. The Limits to Growth. New York City : Universe, 1974.
IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, UN Environ-ment Programme, World Wildlife Fund., Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, UNESCO. World Conservation Strategy: living resource conservation for sustainable development. Gland, Switzerland : IUCN, 1980.
IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency. Inventory of Radioactive Waste Disposals at Sea. Vienna : IAEA, 1999.
UNSCEAR - United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation. Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. New York City: United Nations, 1993. Available at : <https://www.unscear.org/docs/publications/1993/UNSCEAR_1993_Report.pdf >. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
LINTHORST, J. A. An overview: origins and development of green chemistry. Found Chem, v. 12, n. 1, p. 55–68, 2010.
LAGO, A. A. C. Estocolmo, Rio, Joanesburgo: o Brasil e a três conferências ambientais das Nações Unidas. Brasília: IRBr, 2007.
FOLHA ONLINE. Saiba o que é a Rio +10. Folha de S.Paulo, 2002. Available at: <https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/especial/2002/riomais10/o_que_e.shtml>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
WSF – World Social Forum. About the World Social Forum, 2016. Available at : <https://fsm2016.org/en/sinformer/a-propos-du-forum-social-mondial>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
UNITED NATIONS. 17 Goals to Transform Our World, 2019. Available at: <https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
ANASTAS, P. T. ; WARNER, J. C. Green Chemistry: theory and practice. New York City : Oxford University Press, 1998.
WAI, C. M. Green separation techniques for nuclear waste management. Amer Chem Soc Symposium Series, v. 1046, p. 53-63, 2010.
WAI, C. M. Emerging separation techniques: Supercritical fluid and ionic liquid extraction techniques for nuclear fuel reprocessing and radioactive waste treatment. In: K. L. NASH ; G. J. LUMETTA. Advanced Separation Techniques for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing and Ra-dioactive Waste Treatment. Cambridge : Woodhead Publishing, 2011.
SMITH, T. ; THOMAS, J. Radioactive waste not wasted with new green chemistry technolo-gy. Am Nucl Soc J, v. 15, p. 32-35, 2008.
LAHIRI, S. ; CHOUDHURY, D. ; SEN, K. Radio-green chemistry and nature resourced radio-chemistry. J Radioanal Nucl Chem, v. 318, n.3, p. 1543-1558, 2018.
SEN, K. A Journey from the Crossroads of Green Chemistry and Radiochemistry. Science and Culture, India, v. 81, n. 9-10, p. 243-247, Sep-Oct 2015.
ANL – Argonne National Laboratory. India’s Baseline Plan for Nuclear Energy Self-sufficiency, 2009. Available at : <http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph241/parekh1/docs/67057.pdf>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
BARC - Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. AHWR300-LEU: Advanced Heavy Water Reac-tor with LEU-Th MOX Fuel, 2009. Available at : <http://www.barc.gov.in/reactor/ahwr.pdf>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
BNL - Brookhaven National Laboratory. The Indian Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) and non-proliferation attributes, 2012. Available at: <https://www.bnl.gov/isd/documents/79014.pdf>. Last accessed: 10 June 2020.
SINHA, R. K. The IAEA's contribution to the peaceful use of nuclear power. Nuclear Power Newsletter, v. 3, n. 2 Special Issue, 2006.
IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency. Fundamental Safety Principles: safety fun-damentals. Vienna: IAEA, 2006.
NEA/IAEA – Nuclear Energy Agency/ International Atomic Energy Agency. Uranium 2018: Resources, Production and Demand. Paris : OECD Publishing, 2019.
CAMARGO, G. O Fogo dos Deuses. Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto, 2006.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Licensing: The BJRS articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
