Liquid Lithium Cooled Fission Reactor for Producing Radioactive Materials

摘要

A liquid lithium-cooled fission reactor optimized for producing radioactive materials. The reactor is designed to enhance the availability of rare radioactive materials that have significant value for national defense, industrial research, and medical care. This invention has tangible design attributes that can be tailored to create one or more scarce and valuable radioactive materials. In particular, the reactor design is optimized for low-cost production of large quantities of radioactive tritium needed in national-defense and fusion-breeder programs. There are four core designs applied to this invention, all of which produce tritium and surplus heat that can generate byproduct electricity, thereby reducing the cost of radioactive-material production. Three of the embodiments furnish radioactive fission products, such as molybdenum-99, that can be extracted with high efficiency and rapid processing, thus fulfilling a critical supply and price shortfall in radioisotopes used for medical diagnosis and treatment.

主权项

1. A nuclear plant for the production of electric power and in addition real-time production of large quantities of valuable radioactive fission and activation products, said nuclear plant comprising:
A. a lithium-containing primary coolant that also contains fissile or fertile material arranged so that the primary coolant will accumulate large quantities of tritium and other valuable radioactive products, B. a chemical processing plant, and C. a processing loop adapted to flow a portion of the primary coolant in through the processing plant for continuous removable of selected valuable radioactive products.