Kevin Hase - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Kevin Hase

The nuclear material attractiveness of used fuel from proposed small modular reactors is evaluate... more The nuclear material attractiveness of used fuel from proposed small modular reactors is evaluated relative to used fuel from the existing fleet of power reactors. Irradiated fuels at several burn-ups and cooling times are considered. The methodology for evaluating the materials attractiveness is based on previously used metrics and binning approaches and is consistent with the "attractiveness levels" that are normally reserved for nuclear materials in DOE nuclear facilities. Commercial power reactor fuels are unattractive at charge but may become attractive after discharge and age, depending upon the degree of burn-up, the fuel composition, and the reactor type. Some used Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) and Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuels in the US are over 40 years in age and their radiation dose rates continue to decline, calling into question the "self protecting" nature of these older used fuels. This study examines the attractiveness of used fuel assembli...

This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials ... more This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with reprocessing and the thorium-based LWR fuel cycle. This paper expands upon the results from earlier studies that examined the attractiveness of SNM associated with the reprocessing of spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel by various reprocessing schemes and the recycle of plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in LWR. This study shows that {sup 233}U that is produced in thorium-based fuel cycles is very attractive for weapons use. Consistent with other studies, these results also show that all fuel cycles examined to date need to be rigorously safeguarded and provided moderate to high levels of physical protection. These studies were performed at the request of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and are based on the calculation of 'attractiveness levels' that has been couched in terms chosen for consistency with those normally used for nuclear mater...

This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containin... more This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with various proposed nuclear fuel cycles. Specifically, this paper examines two closed fuel cycles. The first fuel cycle examined is a thorium fuel cycle in which a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is fueled with mixtures of plutonium/thorium and {sup 233}U/thorium. The used fuel is then reprocessed using the THOREX process and the actinides are recycled. The second fuel cycle examined consists of conventional light water reactors (LWR) whose fuel is reprocessed for actinides that are then fed to and recycled until consumed in fast-spectrum reactors: fast reactors and accelerator driven systems (ADS). As reprocessing of LWR fuel has already been examined, this paper will focus on the reprocessing of the scheme's fast-spectrum reactors' fuel. This study will indicate what is required to render these materials as having low utilit...

This paper examines the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials... more This paper examines the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with the various processing steps required for a closed fuel cycle. This paper combines the results from earlier studies that examined the attractiveness of SNM associated with the processing of spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel by various reprocessing schemes and the recycle of plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in LWR with new results for the final, repeated burning of SNM in fast-spectrum reactors: fast reactors and accelerator driven systems (ADS). The results of this paper suggest that all reprocessing products evaluated so far need to be rigorously safeguarded and provided moderate to high levels of physical protection. These studies were performed at the request of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and are based on the calculation of "attractiveness levels" that has been couched in terms chosen for consistency with those normally used ...

This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containin... more This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with thorium based nuclear fuel cycles. Specifically, this paper examines a thorium fuel cycle in which a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is fueled with mixtures of natural uranium/233U/thorium. This paper uses a PHWR fueled with natural uranium as a base fuel cycle, and then compares material attractiveness of fuel cycles that use 233U/thorium salted with natural uranium. The results include the material attractiveness of fuel at beginning of life (BoL), end of life (EoL), and the number of fuel assemblies required to collect a bare critical mass of plutonium or uranium. This study indicates what is required to render the uranium as having low utility for use in nuclear weapons; in addition, this study estimates the increased number of assemblies required to accumulate a bare critical mass of plutonium that has a higher utility for use...

Over the last decade, efforts by the safeguards community, including inspectorates, governments, ... more Over the last decade, efforts by the safeguards community, including inspectorates, governments, operators and owners of centrifuge facilities, have given rise to new possibilities for safeguards approaches in enrichment plants. Many of these efforts have involved development of new instrumentation to measure uranium mass and uranium-235 enrichment and inspection schemes using unannounced and random site inspections. We have chosen select diversion scenarios and put together a reasonable system of safeguards equipment and safeguards approaches and analyzed the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed safeguards approach by predicting the probability of detection of diversion in the chosen safeguards approaches. We analyzed the effect of redundancy in instrumentation, cross verification of operator instrumentation by inspector instrumentation, and the effects of failures or anomalous readings on verification data. Armed with these esults we were able to quantify the technical cos...

This paper is an extension to earlier studies that examined the attractiveness of materials mixtu... more This paper is an extension to earlier studies that examined the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) and alternate nuclear materials (ANM) associated with the PUREX, UREX, coextraction, THOREX, and PYROX reprocessing schemes. This study extends the figure of merit (FOM) for evaluating attractiveness to cover a broad range of proliferant State and sub-national group capabilities. This study also considers those materials that will be recycled and burned, possibly multiple times, in LWRs [e.g., plutonium in the form of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel]. The primary conclusion of this study is that all fissile material needs to be rigorously safeguarded to detect diversion by a State and provided the highest levels of physical protection to prevent theft by sub-national groups; no 'silver bullet' has been found that will permit the relaxation of current international safeguards or national physical security protection levels. This series of stud...

This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials ... more This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with reprocessing and the thorium-based LWR fuel cycle. This paper expands upon the results from earlier studies [1,2] that examined the attractiveness of SNM associated with the reprocessing of spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel by various reprocessing schemes and the recycle of plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in LWR. This study shows that 233 U that is produced in thorium-based fuel cycles is very attractive for weapons use. Consistent with other studies, these results also show that all fuel cycles examined to date need to be rigorously safeguarded and provided moderate to high levels of physical protection. These studies were performed at the request of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and are based on the calculation of "attractiveness levels" that has been couched in terms chosen for consistency with those normally used for nuclear materials in DOE nuclear facilities [3]. The methodology and key findings will be presented.

This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containin... more This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with various proposed nuclear fuel cycles. Specifically, this paper examines two closed fuel cycles. The first fuel cycle examined is a thorium fuel cycle in which a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is fueled with mixtures of plutonium/thorium and ²³³U/thorium. The used fuel is then reprocessed using the THOREX process and the actinides are recycled. The second fuel cycle examined consists of conventional light water reactors (LWR) whose fuel is reprocessed for actinides that are then fed to and recycled until consumed in fast-spectrum reactors: fast reactors and accelerator driven systems (ADS). As reprocessing of LWR fuel has already been examined, this paper will focus on the reprocessing of the scheme's fast-spectrum reactors' fuel. This study will indicate what is required to render these materials as having low utility for ...

This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials ... more This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with reprocessing and the thorium-based LWR fuel cycle. This paper expands upon the results from earlier studies that examined the attractiveness of SNM associated with the reprocessing of spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel by various reprocessing schemes and the recycle of plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in LWR. This study shows that Â²Â³Â³U that is produced in thorium-based fuel cycles is very attractive for weapons use. Consistent with other studies, these results also show that all fuel cycles examined to date need to be rigorously safeguarded and provided moderate to high levels of physical protection. These studies were performed at the request of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and are based on the calculation of 'attractiveness levels' that has been couched in terms chosen for consistency with those normally used for nuclear materi...

Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2008

The nonlinear properties of materials can couple with nonlinear geometries in component applicati... more The nonlinear properties of materials can couple with nonlinear geometries in component applications producing surprising overall system responses. Hence materials must be designed for particular, component level, applications, taking into account the component geometry, to achieve optimal performance. Here we focus on the compressive stress-strain and load-deflection characteristics of soft, polymeric foams in nonlinear geometries. The model system for these coupled nonlinearities is the thin layer of foam contained between two initially concentric spheres. We find that a nonlinear component-level response is exhibited with nonlinear geometries, even with a material whose compressive stress-strain response is linear. Polymeric foams exhibit a modified system-level response that is not apparent from standard viscometric testing results. The spherical geometries tend to concentrate the force in a more localized area of the foam, as opposed to the force distribution seen in linear materials, and this gives greater importance to the higher strain regions of the foam stress-strain response. In addition the geometry diminishes the contribution to the mechanical response in the low to middle range of the stress-strain response curve. These findings have provided critical insights to material designers who are engineering new generations of materials with enhanced component-level performance. V

Physics of Fluids, 2001

The hydrodynamic interactions among an infinite suspension of arbitrarily sized spherical particl... more The hydrodynamic interactions among an infinite suspension of arbitrarily sized spherical particles are calculated at low Reynolds number. Absolutely convergent expressions for the particle interactions are found that are cast into a form convenient for computational simulation of the motion of suspensions of spherical particles. The convergence of the periodically replicated form of these hydrodynamic expressions is accelerated by means

This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containin... more This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with thorium based nuclear fuel cycles. Specifically, this paper examines a thorium fuel cycle in which a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is fueled with mixtures of natural uranium/233U/thorium. This paper uses a PHWR fueled with natural uranium as a base fuel cycle, and then compares material attractiveness of fuel cycles that use 233U/thorium salted with natural uranium. The results include the material attractiveness of fuel at beginning of life (BoL), end of life (EoL), and the number of fuel assemblies required to collect a bare critical mass of plutonium or uranium. This study indicates what is required to render the uranium as having low utility for use in nuclear weapons; in addition, this study estimates the increased number of assemblies required to accumulate a bare critical mass of plutonium that has a higher utility for use...

This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials ... more This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with reprocessing and the thorium-based LWR fuel cycle. This paper expands upon the results from earlier studies [1,2] that examined the attractiveness of SNM associated with the reprocessing of spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel by various reprocessing schemes and the recycle of plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in LWR. This study shows that 233 U that is produced in thorium-based fuel cycles is very attractive for weapons use. Consistent with other studies, these results also show that all fuel cycles examined to date need to be rigorously safeguarded and provided moderate to high levels of physical protection. These studies were performed at the request of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and are based on the calculation of "attractiveness levels" that has been couched in terms chosen for consistency with those normally used for nuclear materials in DOE nuclear facilities [3]. The methodology and key findings will be presented.

This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containin... more This paper reports the continued evaluation of the attractiveness of materials mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with various proposed nuclear fuel cycles. Specifically, this paper examines two closed fuel cycles. The first fuel cycle examined is a thorium fuel cycle in which a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) is fueled with mixtures of plutonium/thorium and ²³³U/thorium. The used fuel is then reprocessed using the THOREX process and the actinides are recycled. The second fuel cycle examined consists of conventional light water reactors (LWR) whose fuel is reprocessed for actinides that are then fed to and recycled until consumed in fast-spectrum reactors: fast reactors and accelerator driven systems (ADS). As reprocessing of LWR fuel has already been examined, this paper will focus on the reprocessing of the scheme's fast-spectrum reactors' fuel. This study will indicate what is required to render these materials as having low utility for ...

This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials ... more This paper examines the attractiveness of material mixtures containing special nuclear materials (SNM) associated with reprocessing and the thorium-based LWR fuel cycle. This paper expands upon the results from earlier studies that examined the attractiveness of SNM associated with the reprocessing of spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel by various reprocessing schemes and the recycle of plutonium as a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in LWR. This study shows that Â²Â³Â³U that is produced in thorium-based fuel cycles is very attractive for weapons use. Consistent with other studies, these results also show that all fuel cycles examined to date need to be rigorously safeguarded and provided moderate to high levels of physical protection. These studies were performed at the request of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and are based on the calculation of 'attractiveness levels' that has been couched in terms chosen for consistency with those normally used for nuclear materi...

Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2008

Physics of Fluids, 2001