Present status for research and development on accelerator driven system in JAEA

Tsujimoto, Kazufumi ; Oigawa, Hiroyuki ; Kurata, Yuji; Nishihara, Kenji  ; Sugawara, Takanori  ; Takei, Hayanori   ; Saito, Shigeru   ; Obayashi, Hironari  ; Iwamoto, Hiroki   

To continue the utilization of the nuclear fission energy, the management of the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is one of the most important issues to be solved. Partitioning and Transmutation technology of HLW is expected to be effective to mitigate the burden of the HLW disposal by reducing the radiological toxicity and heat generation. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been conducting the research and development (R&D) on accelerator-driven subcritical system (ADS) as a dedicated system for the transmutation of long-lived radioactive nuclides. The ADS proposed by JAEA is a lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) cooled fast subcritical reactor with thermal output of 800 MW. For ADS to play important roles in the nuclear fuel cycle, several critical issues have to be resolved. Items of R&D are divided into three technical areas peculiar to the ADS: (1) superconducting linear accelerator (SC-LINAC), (2) LBE as spallation target and core coolant, and (3) subcritical core design and technology. For these technical areas, various R&D activities are progressing in JAEA. In this paper, the present status of the R&D activities in JAEA is reported.