TOWARD THE 21ST CENTURY NUCLEAR-SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

Progress in Nuclear Energy. Volume 47, Issues 1-4 , 2005, Pages 53-60
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Hiroshi Takahashi
Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, New York, 11973, USA

Abstract

Energy security is vital for the steady growth of the world's welfare and economy and although many novel non-nuclear energy sources are being explored, much less attention is given to nuclear energy. In developing this source, safety, environment protection, and non-proliferation are essential considerations. I have proposed establishing deep underground nuclear parks where not only energy production, but also the processing and transportation of fuel can be carried out in a well protected small area; in the near future they might be operated under international supervision to ensure non-proliferation. The quantum physics on which modern technologies such as nanotechnology, and biotechnology are based, offer a sound foundation. The mathematical and physical technologies developed in the fields of nuclear engineering will provide the fundamental educational basis for such 21st century science and technology.

1. INTRODUCTION

To promote the use of nuclear energy for the 21st century we must overcome the many obstructions that were generated over the last decade. These are issues about the nonproliferation of nuclear material and the disposal or elimination of radioactive waste; they might be solved without large surgery of our nuclear energy system. To get public support for the development of nuclear energy, we should expand the uses of radioactive material, such as in medicine, and as tools for scientific research. So far our nuclear engineer mostly have concerned on the energy problem; we must pay more attention to the benefits of products created by weak interactions. A fission reactor can be operated safely in a critical condition by
employing delayed neutrons; without these, the fission reactor can be operated in sub-critical condition by providing spallation neutrons created by injecting medium- energy protons into a heavy metal target, as I previously proposed. However, beta decay due to weak interactions creates long-lived radioactive materials that will be hazardous for human activity in future.

Beta decay has been studied so far in the rather simple Fermi theory; a more fundamental physical theory has to be developed through high-energy physics and the astronomical physics of super nova and neutrino oscillation. Then, it might have be possible in future to deal with these weak interactions and utilize them in a more beneficial way for future generations. In this paper, reflecting my special work in the field of reactor physics, I would like to
speculate on the future of nuclear energy and the associated science and technology in the 21 century, including quantum physics, quantum computation, and biology.....

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