Can a particle excelerator be used to stablize nuclear waste?

Answer 1

Yes.

A particle accelerator can be used to drive a type of sub-critical reactor called an Energy Amplifier (EA) or Accelerator Drive System. In this system, protons are accelerated to high energy and crashed into a target made of an element with a high atomic number, such as lead. As each proton collides with a lead nucleus, a cascade of neutrons is produced, and these are sent to interact with radioactive material, such as nuclear waste.

When a neutron collides with a nucleus, any of three things can happen:

1. The neutron can bounce off. This is what typically, but not always, happens with atoms that are not radioactive.

2. The neutron can cause nuclear decay.

3. The neutron can be captured, causing the atom to take on the next higher isotope number. When this happens, the atom may be rendered inert, or the half-life will be changed. When an isotopes with a long half-life is rendered into an isotope that is radioactive, it is nearly always made into an isotope with a short half-life, which decays quickly in the high neutron density.

This process produces heat, which can generate electrical power to drive the accelerator, with power to spare. In a large scale system, the accelerator should consume less than 10% of the power produced.

This process was invented by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia, while he was the director of CERN. It was tested in simulation, and the parts of the process that required physical demonstration were also successfully tested.

Though no plant of this type has yet been built, such plants are proposed for various countries all over the world. In Norway, for example, three utilities companies have expressed interest in building such a plant, and two have acquired licences. Interest in Norway is so widespread that a public opinion poll found that 80% of those asked said they wanted to see such a plant operate in Norway, to use thorium rather than nuclear waste. Norway has abundant thorium resources.

No plant of this type is publicly acknowledged to be under consideration in the United States.