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Fukushima Mon Amour

  

Fukushima       Hiroshima

[ God damn you, TEPCO-Yakuza ... God damn you, Magna BSP ( Stuxnet ) ... God damn you, General Electric ]



Once more, into the breach :
Here are 70 methods to reduce the radioactivity of Nuclear Waste :

( # 1 ) "Brown's Gas" --
Proven to reduce nuclear radiation up to 96% within minutes
:


http://pacenet.homestead.com/Nucwaste.html
Planetary Association for Clean Energy

"... Directing the flame at Cobalt-60 radiation was reduced by 70% in the sample...  Directing the flame at Americium the radiation was reduced 96%..."



"On August 24, 1991, China's Baotou Nuclear Institute released a Report # 202 , "The Results of Experiments to Dispose of Radiation Materials by Brown's Gas", which establishes that experimentation on Cobalt 60 radiation source decreased radiation by about 50% or half-life of radiation -- but sometimes more radiation is decreased which needs investigation of possibilities for decreasing more of the radiation in single treatments of exposure to Brown's Gas flame, lasting only a few minutes, in the samples as described in the table below.

First Experiment   Second Experiment
Source Intensity   580 millirads/hour       115 - 120 millirads/hour
After Treatment    220 - 240 millirads/hour         42 millirads/hour

"In another test conducted by Yull Brown before a public audience including U.S. Congressman Hon. Berkeley Bedell with a committee responsible in this area of concern, the experiment ran as follows as reported by the press:

"Using a slice of radioactive Americium ... Brown melted it together on a brick with small chunks of steel and Aluminum ... After a couple of minutes under the flame, the molten metals sent up an instant flash in what Brown says is the reaction that destroys the radioactivity. Before the heating and mixing with the other metals, the Americium, made by the decay of an isotope of Plutonium, registered 16,000 curies per minute of radiation.  Measured afterward by the [Geiger Counter], the mass of metals read less than 100 curies per minute, about the same as the background radiation in the laboratory where Brown was working.

"This experiment indicated a reduction of radiation in the order of over 99% (to about 0.00625 of original level) -- in less than 5 minutes, with minimal handling.  The improvement in the de-radioactivation process from about 50% to nearly 100% has come only with persistent research over the decades by Brown and his colleagues..."

"The Hon. Berkeley Bedell has reported, "it has been my good pleasure to witness experiments done by Prof. Yull Brown in which it appeared to me that he significantly reduced the radioactivity in several nuclear materials.  Under the circumstances, I believe it is very important for our federal government to completely investigate  Dr. Yull Brown's accomplishments in this area."

"On August 6, 1992, almost a year after the Chinese nuclear report, Prof. Yull Brown made a special demonstration to a team of 5 San Francisco field office observers from the United States Department of Energy, at the request of the Hon. Berkeley Bedell.  Cobalt 60 was treated and resulted in a drop of Geiger readings from 1,000 counts to 40 -- resulting in radioactive waste residue of about 0.04 of the original level.  Apprehensive that somehow the radioactivity might have been dispersed into the ambient environment, the official requested the California Department of Health Services to inspect the premises. The health services crew found no radioactivity in the air resulting from this demonstration nor from another repeat demonstration held for their benefit.

"This sequence of experiments was monitored by the Hon. Daniel Haley, the legislator who established the forerunner New York State Energy Research and Development Agency.

"Other demonstrations, measured with under more sophisticated protocol and instrumentation have been made before Japanese nuclear experts, including four scientists from Toshiba and Mitsui (Cobalt 60 of 24,000 mR/hr with one treatment to 12,000 mR/hr). The Japanese scientists were so excited by what they saw that they immediately purchased a generator and air shipped it to Japan.  They sent Prof. Brown a confidential report of some of their results. Subsequently, they tried to obtain addition Brown's Gas generators directly from the People's Republic of China..."

"At this time, Brown's Gas generators are mass produced in the Bautou, a major research city in the People's Republic of China by the huge NORINCO factory which also manufacturers locomotives and ordinances -- and services the nation's nuclear industry complex.  Most of these generators (producing up to 4,000 litres/hour/2.4 water at 0.45 MPa with power requirements ranging from 0.66 kW up to 13.2 kW) are marketed for their superior welding and brazing qualities, costing between $ 2,000 and $ 17,000. Some units have been used for the decontamination of radioactive materials since 1991.  In general, Brown's Gas generators produce between 300 and 340 litres of Brown's Gas per 1 kW energy DC current approximately and one litre of water produces 1.866.6 approximately litres of gas.

A generator which produces 10,000 litres per hour has been built specifically for the reduction of nuclear waste..."



Andrew Michrowski / Mark Porringa : Advanced transmutation process and its application for the decontamination of radioactive nuclear wastes

[ DOC ]



www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NWtX7IZYjM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqImZpjqIgM
www.video.google.com/videoplay?docid=411405755714495752
www.rexresearch.com/brown-haley/danhaleybrownsgas.flv ( 46 MB )

Yull Brown      Rep. Dan Haley

 Brown's Original Generator     USP 4014777



Brown's Gas Generator Manufacturers :



70 Patents for Reduction of Radioactivity

www.rexresearch.com/kindrvch/kindrvch.htm

Anatoly KINDEREVICH

US2004238366
Method & System with Apparatus for Acceleration of Activity Decrease & Radioactive Material Deactivation



Radioactive material can be processed by an apparatus that includes at least a cylindrical outer shell electrode, an inner electrode, and a plurality of prism-shaped ferromagnetic elements positioned between the outer and inner electrodes. The prism-shaped ferromagnetic elements are positioned around the inner circumference of the metal cylinder. The inner electrode component is located within the metal cylinder and is configured to cover the inwardly-pointing portions of the prism-shaped ferromagnetic elements. Radioactive material in a container is placed into the apparatus, and an AC voltage excitation signal is applied to the electrodes of the apparatus during treatment of the material. The frequency of the excitation signal is selected according to the frequency of structurization or the frequency of destructurization of the ferromagnetic material. The process can be monitored and controlled with the use of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation intensity measuring instruments.



www.rexresearch.com/shakhparanov/shakhparanov.htm


RU2061266
Method for Decontamination of Radioactive Materials

Ivan SHAKHPARANOV


Method involves application of external electrostatic field to radioactive material. Source of electrostatic fields is system of conducting strips which is located on dielectric substrate which is bent as Moebius band. Conducting strips are arranged in parallel to band edge and have contact terminals which are located on inner and outer sides of Moebius band in opposition to each other.



US5076971
Method for Enhancing Alpha Decay in Radioactive Materials

William BARKER


Apparatus and method for decontaminating radioactive materials by stimulating the atomic system of radioactive materials. The stimulus is kept applied to the radioactive materials for a predetermined time. In this way, the rate of decay of the radioactivity of the materials is greatly accelerated and the materials are thereby decontaminated at a rate much faster than normal. The stimulus can be applied to the radioactive materials placing them within the sphere or terminal of a Van de Graaff generator and allowing them to be subjected to the electrical potential of the generator, such as in the range of 50 kilovolts to 500 kilovolts, for at least a period of 30 minutes or more.



US2002186805
Accelerated Radioactivity Reduction

Sidney SOLOWAY



A method for reducing radioactivity in a radioactive sample is disclosed, comprising contacting said sample with a beam of photons, said beam having an energy level sufficient to cause said radioactive sample to emit particles including photons in an amount sufficient to accelerate a reduction in radioactivity of said sample. Also disclosed is a method of increasing radioactive decay in a radioactive isotope comprising the steps of: determining a beam of an effective energy and effective flux of photons to increase radioactive decay in the radioactive isotope; applying the beam to the radioactive isotope; and maintaining the beam for an amount of time effective to increase the radioactivity of the radioactive isotope.



WO03098640
Processing Radioactive Material with Hydrogen Isotope Nuclei

John DASH


A method for processing radioactive materials is disclosed. The method employs hydrogen isotope nuclei for the treatment of radioactive materials, such as uranium, and effectively increases the observed decay rate of such materials. Therefore, the disclosed method allows remediation of dangerous radioactive materials, such as uranium, without requiring long term, geologically-stable storage sites or costly, accelerator -based transmutation equipment.



V.S. BUTTSEV, et al.

RU2169405
Method for Transmutation of Long-Living Radioactive Isotopes into Short-Living or Stable Ones



Transmutation of long-living radioactive isotopes into short-living or stable ones is conducted under the action of electromagnetic radiation. In the process, highly ionized atoms with energy- resolved hole of accelerated beta-decay are produced from atoms of long-living radioactive isotope and held in ionized state until transmutation of mother nuclei to daughter short-living or stable ones takes place. With coefficient of operating time k preset for daughter nuclei, atoms of long-living radioactive isotope are held in highly ionized state for at least time beta, where beta is lifetime of mother nuclei under accelerated beta-decay conditions. Electromagnetic radiation may be effected by beams of accelerated charged particles (electrons, protons, or ions) or by photon flux. Radiation by charged-particle beam may be combined with photon flux radiation. EFFECT: enhanced transmutation efficiency dispensing with nuclear reactions of collision character and avoiding formation of by-products.



www.rexresearch.com/nucell/nucell.htm

Paul  BROWN



US2002169351
Remediation of Radioactive Waste by Stimulated Radioactive Decay



Disclosed is a radioactive waste treatment process for transmuting long-lived radioisotopes into short-lived radioisotopes through applied nuclear physics. Nuclear reactions, specifically of the (gamma, n) type, also known as photo-disintegration, are utilized to accomplish this transmutation from troublesome, long-lived radioactive waste isotope(s) of given atomic mass to shorter-lived or stable materials of lower atomic mass, by exposing the troublesome isotopes to a high energy photon flux for a sustained time. Generally speaking, the target nucleus of the radioisotope(s) to be treated is irradiated by gamma photons of an energy greater than the binding energy of the neutron in the target nucleus. This causes the irradiated nucleus to absorb the gamma rays, thereby placing the nucleus in an excited state. Upon relaxation, the nucleus ejects a neutron through the (gamma, n) reaction, thereby transmuting the element to an isotope of lower atomic mass and shorter half-life.



Heinrich HORA

U
S2003202623
Low-Cost Elimination of Long-Lived Nuclear Waste

Aspects of the present invention include a non-metal, a hydrogen absorbing metal, a selected isotope to be exposed to ions of hydrogen or ions of isotopes of hydrogen, and a hydrogen source. The hydrogen source can be an electrolytic solution, a gas or plasma. In some embodiments the hydrogen absorbing metal covers the non-metal to form a microsphere. The hydrogen absorbing metal is positioned to contact the hydrogen source. Further, the hydrogen absorbing metal can be made of multiple layers of dissimilar metals with different Fermi energy levels. The multiple layers of metals have interfaces where swimming electron layers exist. Interfaces between the non-metal, hydrogen absorbing metal, and the hydrogen source also exist with swimming electron layers. The selected isotope is placed in these regions of swimming electron layers to be exposed to the ions of hydrogen and its isotopes from the hydrogen source.



DE19803629
Transmutation of Isotopes with Long Half-Life

Heinrich HORA

For the transmutation of long half-life isotopes, their surfaces are exposed to an electrolyte or a gas or plasma atmosphere to form intermediate layers or vol. zones of a number of structure layers. The threshold zones are placed against a carrier material or close to vol. zones of metals or metal layers, composed of metals capable of absorbing \-1 atom% of hydrogen or its isotope.



US2008134837
Method & System for Recovering metal from Metal-Containing Materials



Embodiments of a method and a system for recovering a metal, such as uranium, from a metal-containing material are disclosed. The metal-containing material is exposed to an extractant containing a liquid or supercritical-fluid solvent and an acid-base complex including an oxidizing agent and a complexing agent. Batches of the metal-containing material are moved through a series of stations while the extractant is moved through the stations in the opposite direction. After the extraction step, the metal is separated from the solvent, the complexing agent and/or other metals by exposing the extract to a stripping agent in a countercurrent stripping column. The complexing agent and the solvent exit the column and are separated from each other by reducing the pressure.; The recovered complexing agent is recharged with fresh oxidizing agent and recombined with fresh or recovered solvent to form a recovered extractant, which is distributed through the extraction stations.



UA19842
DEVICE FOR SUPPRESSING RADIATION

 Y.  ZUZANSKYI / B. BOLOTOV


The proposed device for suppressing radiation contains a toroidal ferromagnetic core, inductance coils, and a screen.





RU1804280
METHOD FOR PURIFICATION OF SOIL FROM RADIO NUCLIDES

V. ROMANOVSKIJ / B. BOLOTOV

The invention relates to the field of clean technologies razrabotkiaktivnyh pochvyot radionuclides in binary tsiklahproizvodstv using phyto-activation of the soil as an active technical liquidation and utilization  in accidents such as Chernobyl.




USP Application 2002169351

Remediation of Radioactive Waste by Stimulated Radioactive Decay

Paul M. Brown

Disclosed is a radioactive waste treatment process for transmuting long-lived radioisotopes into short-lived radioisotopes through applied nuclear physics. Nuclear reactions, specifically of the (gamma, n) type, also known as photodisintegration, are utilized to accomplish this transmutation from troublesome, long-lived radioactive waste isotope(s) of given atomic mass to shorter-lived or stable materials of lower atomic mass, by exposing the troublesome isotopes to a high energy photon flux for a sustained time. Generally speaking, the target nucleus of the radioisotope(s) to be treated is irradiated by gamma photons of an energy greater than the binding energy of the neutron in the target nucleus. This causes the irradiated nucleus to absorb the gamma rays, thereby placing the nucleus in an excited state. Upon relaxation, the nucleus ejects a neutron through the (gamma, n) reaction, thereby transmuting the element to an isotope of lower atomic mass and shorter half-life
.

WO Patent # 9,403,906
Methods for Manufacturing & Producing Products

Ronald Brightsen, et al.

A method for generating high energy 32He particles includes the steps of accumulating protons and deuterons in intimate contact with a lattice structure storage member and repeatedly reacting one proton and one deuteron to produce 32He particles and excess energy greater than 6 MeV for each of the 32He particles. A method for controlling an energy production reaction of isotopic hydrogen atoms includes steps for storing a first isotope of hydrogen and a second isotope of hydrogen in contact with a lattice structure to produce a first ratio of the first isotope to the second from a mixture having a second ratio of the first isotope to the second isotope, adjusting the energy of the lattice structure to initiate the energy production reaction caused by the interaction of one nucleus of the first isotope with one nucleus of the second isotope and controlling the second ratio to control the rate of the energy production reaction based on the interaction of the first isotope with the second isotope. Methods for treating radioactive waste by transmutation and for forming a superconductive material from a plurality of constituents, as well as methods for forming improved semiconductor devices, improved atomic lattice structures and improved molecular structures and ionic compounds, are described along with selection rules for fine tuning these methods. An apparatus for producing controlled emissions of high energy vHe particles, which can be adapted as a beam producing device or as motor, is also disclosed.


 
WO03098640
Processing Radioactive Materials with Hydrogen Isotope Nuclei

John Dash

Embodiments of a method for processing radioacive materials, with a particular embodiment comprising processing uranium with hydrogen isotope plasmas, and a process for remediation of nuclear wastes by transmutation.


 
DE19803629
Transmutation of Isotopes with Long Half Life

Heinrich Hora

For the transmutation of long half-life isotopes, their surfaces are exposed to an electrolyte or a gas or plasma atmosphere to form intermediate layers or vol. zones of a number of structure layers. The threshold zones are placed against a carrier material or close to vol. zones of metals or metal layers, composed of metals capable of absorbing \-1 atom% of hydrogen or its isotope.


 
Japan Patent 9197077
Electrode for Cold Nuclear Fusion & Method for Manufacturing Radioactive & Nonradioactive Element & Pervious Metal by Nuclear Transformation in Electrode

Reiko Notoya

To obtain an electrode for cold nuclear fusion which can manufacture isotopes, precious metals, rare elements or thermal energy through nuclear transformation by containing as a material for the electrode a substance which can cause nuclear transformation. Solution: Radioactive or nonradioactive isotopes are manufactured by the nuclear transformation in an electrode and the combination of nuclear reactions such as neutron capture and natural nuclear disintegration of products made through the nuclear reactions. The kinds of manufactured isotopes are very numerous, and it is especially easy to obtain non-single isotopes. Since the conditions of electrolysis can be controlled very precisely, it is possible to manufacture only target substances precisely. For an electrode for cold nuclear fusion, an element whose atomic number is close to that of a precious metal or a rare element is chosen as a substance which can cause nuclear transformation, or a material for the nuclear transformation of a precious metal and a rare element. For example, W, Ag, Sn and Pt are cited as materials for platinum-family metals and gold. As materials for rare elements, chemical species such as the halogen family, alkaline metals, Po and W are chosen.



US6738446
System and method for radioactive waste destruction

Venneri, et al.

A method for transmuting spent fuel from a nuclear reactor includes the step of separating the waste into components including a driver fuel component and a transmutation fuel component. The driver fuel, which includes fissile materials such as Plutonium.sup.239, is used to initiate a critical, fission reaction in a reactor. The transmutation fuel, which includes non-fissile transuranic isotopes, is transmuted by thermal neutrons generated during fission of the driver fuel. The system is designed to promote fission of the driver fuel and reduce neutron capture by the driver fuel. Reacted driver fuel is separated into transuranics and fission products using a dry cleanup process and the resulting transuranics are mixed with transmutation fuel and re-introduced into the reactor. Transmutation fuel from the reactor is introduced into a second reactor for further transmutation by neutrons generated using a proton beam and spallation target.



RU2052223
Method For Producing Stable Isotopes Due To Nuclear Transmutation, Such As Low-Temperature Nuclear Fusion Of Elements In Microbiological Cultures   

V. Vysotskij / A. Kornilova

A method of obtaining stable isotopes by nuclear fusion of elements in microbial cultures, including the preparation of the culture medium for the growth of microbiological cultures deficient isotope obtainable by transmutation, and containing the necessary transmutation initial isotopic components; growing in a nutrient medium microbiological cultures requiring these isotopes for their growth, isolating from the culture medium grown culture and isolation of stable isotopes [2] In the conventional method describes the procedure for growing microbiological cultures Aspergillus niger IFO 4066, Penicillium chrysogenum IFO 4689; Phizopus nigricans IFO 5781; Mucor rouxii IFO 0369; Saccharomuces cerevisiae IFO 0308 ; Torulopsis utilis IFO 0396; Saccharomyces ellipideus IFO 0213; Hansenula anomala IFO 0118 in a nutrient medium is an aqueous solution of a number of chemical compounds and deficient in one of the essential components for the growth of crops (potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium) and for monitoring, standard for them spedi. In experiments on the implementation of the method has been shown that the cultivation of these crops in the corresponding element deficient media (data media in these specific elements did not exist) in the resulting culture of these elements were present, which can only be attributed to their synthesis in the nuclear transmutation of the other elements present, and isotopes.


 
RU2034414
Accelerating Complex For Transmutation Of Nuclear Production Waste   

M. Danilov / Y. Katarzhnov


 
GB2246467
Transmutation treatment of radioactive wastes           

K. Konashi / N. Sasao

A method for the transmutation treatment of radioactive wastes comprises: accelerating radioactive nuclides contained in the radioactive wastes to be treated to an energy level corresponding to a compound nucleus resonance level; and bombarding the accelerated nuclides into a thermal neutron field, which is under a magnetic field, to cause the compound nucleus resonance reaction to occur; thereby transforming the radioactive nuclides into those which are more stable or have shorter life. The nuclides are accelerated in accelerator 9 then passed into an annular-cylindrical chamber 3 positioned about a reactor 1 where they are treated with neutrons.



US4721596
Method for net decrease of hazardous radioactive nuclear waste materials  

R. Marriott / F. Henyey

A method for decreasing the amount of hazardous radioactive reactor waste materials by separation from the waste of materials having long-term risk potential and exposing these materials to a thermal neutron flux. The utilization of thermal neutrons enhances the natural decay rates of the hazardous materials while the separation for recycling of the hazardous materials prevents further transmutation of stable and short-lived nuclides.


 
EP0030404
Method for net decrease of hazardous radioactive nuclear waste materials.  

R. Marriott / F. Henyey

Also published as: ZA8007201 / JPS56125698 / AU6435380 / AU539393

A method for decreasing the amount of hazardous radioactive reactor waste materials by separating from the waste of materials having long-term risk potential and exposing these materials to a thermal neutron flux. The utilization of thermal neutrons enhances the natural decay rates of the hazardous materials while the separation for recycling of the hazardous materials prevents further transmutation of stable and short-lived nuclides.



GB970091
Transmutation of elements           

I. Noel

Transmutation of elements. N. I. RAFFERTY. Sept. 10,1963 [June 19,1962], No. 23586/62. Heading G6P. A process for the synthesis of helium and the simultaneous generation of energy comprises admixing in a steel pressure-tight vessel in presence of air following reactants in the following order: aluminium in a physical form presenting a large volume/surface ratio, solid sodium hydroxide, and water in the ratio of 4 : 8 : 8. The reaction is stated to be thermonuclear involving the carbon cycle proposed by Bethe, the effect of which is to transmute hydrogen into helium



JP2004117106
Structure For Nuclide Transmutation And Method For Forming It

T. Ito Takehiko / M. Sakano

To provide a structure for transmuting nuclides with a relatively small-scale device and a means for manufacturing the structure. ; SOLUTION: A mixed layer consisting of lamination layers of a Pd layer and a layer of a substance which has a smaller work function than Pd is placed on a substrate made of Pd, a Pd alloy, other metals occluding hydrogen or alloys of these metals, the structure shaped like an approximate plate where an additional Pd layer is placed on the mixed layer is formed and a substance which is given nuclide transmutation is supplied to the Pd layer of the structure. The substance which is supplied to the Pd layer and is given nuclide transmutation is acceptable if it has become metallic, and salt may adhere to the surface of it. Electrodeposition and ion implantation can be used as a means for supplying the substance which is given nuclide transmutation


 
FR2855309
Plasma-free nucleon transmutation comprises use of piezoelectric actuators to produce energy particles compatible with targets

G. Vitrac
 
Nucleon transmutation, initiated by plasma-free fusion uses piezo-electric actuators to ensure particle transfer where the velocity vector benefits from additional quantum that favors collisions and automatically-triggered fusion. This accords, in particular, with the laws of velocity distribution and the probability of collisions for energy particles compatible with targets.
 

 
US2003210759
Nuclide transmutation device and nuclide transmutation method           

Y. Iwamura / T. Itoh
 
The present invention produces nuclide transmutation using a relatively small-scale device. The device 10 that produces nuclide transmutation comprises a structure body 11 that is substantially plate shaped and made of palladium (Pd) or palladium alloy, or another metal that absorbs hydrogen (for example, Ti) or an alloy thereof, and a material 14 that undergoes nuclide transmutation laminated on one surface 11A among the two surfaces of this structure body 11. The one surface 11A side of the structure body 11, for example, is made a region in which the pressure of the deuterium is high due to pressure or electrolysis and the like, and the other surface 11B side, for example, is a region in which the pressure of the deuterium is low due to vacuum exhausting and the like, and thereby, a flow of deuterium in the structure body 11 is produced, and nuclide transmutation is carried out by a reaction between the deuterium and the material 14 that undergoes nuclide transmutation.
 

 
RU2210630
Facility For Generation Of Gas Mixture And Transmutation Of Nuclei Of Atoms Of Chemical Elements   

F. Kanarev / V.  Podobedov

Facility for generation of gas mixture and transmutation of nuclei of atoms of chemical elements has body made of dielectric material with though hole, interelectrode chamber, cooling chamber for vapor condensation, vessel for working solution, branch pipes to feed and drain working solution, anode connected to positive pole of power supply source and cathode connected to negative pole of power supply source. Body has upper boss with internal cavity. Cathode is brought into cathode space from above through axial hole of upper boss. Internal space of boss communicates with cooling chamber which space is connected to vessel for working solution. EFFECT: simultaneous generation of gas mixture and transmutation of nuclei of atoms of chemical elements.



US6233298
Apparatus for transmutation of nuclear reactor waste           

Charles Bowman

A subcritical reactor-like apparatus for treating nuclear wastes, the apparatus comprising a vessel having a shell and an internal volume, the internal volume housing graphite. The apparatus having means for introducing a fluid medium comprising molten salts and plutonium and minor actinide waste and/or fission products. The apparatus also having means for introducing neutrons into the internal volume wherein absorption of the neutrons after thermalization forms a processed fluid medium through fission chain events averaging approximately 10 fission events to approximately 100 fission events. The apparatus having additional means for removing the processed fluid medium from the internal volume. The processed fluid medium typically has no usefulness for production of nuclear weapons.
 

 
US6233299
Assembly for transmutation of a long-lived radioactive material           

T. Wakabayashi

A new transmutation assembly permits an efficient transmutation of a long-lived radioactive material (long-lived FP nuclides such as technetium-99 or iodine-129) which was produced in the nuclear reactor. Wire-type members of a long-lived radioactive material comprised of metals, alloys or compounds including long-lived FP nuclides are surrounded by a moderator material and installed in cladding tubes to form FP pins. The FP pins, and nothing else, are housed in a wrapper tube to form a transmutation assembly. The wire-type members can be replaced by thin ring-type members. The transmutation assemblies can be selectively and at least partly loaded into a core region, a blanket region or a shield region of a reactor core in a fast reactor. From a viewpoint of reducing the influence on the reactor core characteristics, it is optimal to load the transmutation assemblies into the blanket region.


 
WO9919881
Low Temperature Electrolytic Nuclear Transmutation     

James Patterson / George Miley

A method for producing low temperature nuclear transmutations by electrolysis in an aqueous media. New elements produced by transmutation are identified as having discrete peaks in occurrence by atomic number (Z) and by atomic mass (A). New complex nuclei produced by transmutation are idendified as having existed based upon the nature and occurrences of fission transmutation elements produced. The electrolytic cell (12) includes a non-conductive housing (14) having an inlet (54) and an outlet (56) and spaced apart first and second conductive grids (38 & 44) positioned therein. A plurality of cross-linked polymer non-metallic cores each having a uniform conductive exterior metallic surface formed of a high hydrogen absorbing material form a bed (35) of conductive beads (36) closely packed within the housing (14) in electrical contact with the first grid (38) adjacent the inlet (54). An electric power source (15, 16) in the system (10) is operably connected across the first and second grids



WO9740211
System, Electrolytic Cell And Method For Producing Excess Heat And For Transmutation By Electrolysis

James Patterson / George Miley
 
An electrolytic cell (12), system (10) and method for producing excess quantities of heat as a result of low temperature nuclear transmutations which occur during electrolysis in an aqueous media within the cell (12). The electrolytic cell (12) includes a non-conductive housing (14) having an inlet (54) and an outlet (56) and spaced apart first and second conductive grids (38 & 44) positioned within the housing (14). A plurality of preferably cross linked polymer non-metallic cores each having a uniform conductive exterior metallic surface formed of a high hydrogen absorbing material, such as metallic hybride forming material, form a bed (35) of conductive beads (36) closely packed within the housing (14) in electrical contact with the first grid (38) adjacent the inlet (54).; An electric power source (15, 16) in the system (10) is operably connected across the first and second grid (38 & 44) whereby electrical current flows between the grids (38 & 44) and within the aqueous media (59) flowing through the cell.


 
WO9803699
Nuclear Transmuted Elements Having Unnatural Isotopic Distributions By Electrolysis And Method Of Production  

James Patterson / George Miley

Also published as:  AU4644097

A method for producing low temperature nuclear transmutations which occur during electrolysis in an aqueous medium within a cell (12). New elements produced by transmutation during operation of the cell are both higher and lower in atomic mass than the original element undergoing transmutation. Many of the new elements also exhibit isotopic shifts from natural isotope abundance. The electrolytic cell (12) includes a non-conductive housing (14) having an inlet (54) and an outlet (56) and spaced apart first and second conductive grids (38 and 44) positioned within the housing (14).; A plurality of preferably cross-linked polymer non-metallic cores each having a uniform conductive exterior metallic surface formed of a high hydrogen absorbing material, such as a metallic hydride forming material, form a bed (35) of conductive beads (36) closely packed within the housing (14) in electrical contact with the first grid (38) adjacent the inlet (54). An electric power source (15, 16) in the system (10) is operably connected across the first and second grid (38 and 44) whereby electrical current flows between the grids (38 and 44) and within the aqueous medium (59) flowing through the cell (12) during cell operation.



US2003226401
Atomic structure recognition and modification method and apparatus           

H. Letovsky

Also published as: US2005145031 // US2005155340

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining the precise makeup of atomic and molecular structures, as well as providing the capability of modifying said structures. The invention uses induced resonant frequency wave effects to define and modify the electromagnetic, electrical, radioactive, atomic weight, and co-valent bonding characteristics of matter. One embodiment of the present invention may produce directionally controllable magnetic fields in gaseous media that interact with magnetically polarized vehicle surfaces to allow high-speed, highly energy efficient inter-planetary space travel. Another embodiment of the invention may neutralize waste products remaining from nuclear fission power production. The invention utilizes controlled multi-spectrum frequency induction to catalyze changes in atomic structures that may include: focused and dramatically amplified release of energy relative to natural states of matter; production of new alloys; transmutation of dangerous organic compounds into non-toxic media; and controlled polarization of matter. The benefits of the invention may include highly efficient interstellar spacecraft propulsion systems, hazardous waste elimination systems, efficient electricity production, and health enhancement of biological organisms.



EP1202290
Nuclide transmutation device and nuclide transmutation method           

Y. Iwamura  / T. Itoh

Also published as:  EP1202290 / US2012269309 / US2012263265 / US2002080903

The present invention produces nuclide transmutation using a relatively small-scale device. The device (10) that produces nuclide transmutation comprises a structure body (11) that is substantially plate shaped and made of palladium (Pd) or palladium alloy, or another metal that absorbs hydrogen (for example, Ti) or an alloy thereof, and a material (14) that undergoes nuclide transmutation laminated on one surface (11A) among the two surfaces of this structure body (11).; The one surface (11A) side of the structure body (11), for example, is a region in which the pressure of the deuterium is high due to pressure or electrolysis and the like, and the other surface (11B) side, for example, is a region in which the pressure of the deuterium is low due to vacuum exhausting and the like, and thereby, a flow of deuterium in the structure body (11) is produced, and nuclide transmutation is carried out by a reaction between the deuterium and the material (14) that undergoes nuclide transmutation.



WO0231833
Nuclear Transmutational Processes

Arie De Geus

The invention relates to a method of generating energy, comprising the steps of: a. introducing hydrogen in a reactor vessel, the vessel comprising a cathode, an anode and an ionization element, the cathode comprising a primary and a secondary transmutational element, the transmutational elements having in their nucleus a number of neutrons which is larger than the number of protons, and wherein at least one neutron has a preferred orientation; b. Ionizing at least a part of the hydrogen with the ionization element to form a plasma, c. Applying a voltage differential across the cathode and the anode, causing protons to travel to the cathode and to induce a transmutation of the transmutational elements which combine to form an element of higher mass number than the mass number of said transmutational elements under the release of energy; and d. collecting heat and/or on other energy formed in step c. In a preferred embodiment the primary transmutational element comprises formula (i) or any combination thereof, whereas the secondary transmutational element comprises formula (ii) or any combination thereof.
 

 
NL1031962
Energy generating process for producing electricity, comprises electron discharge in flow of nitrogen or air in order to cause nuclear transmutation of nitrogen into carbon monoxide     

A. de Geus

A flow of nitrogen or air, or a plasma thereof, through a reactor (1) is exposed to an electron discharge, resulting in the nuclear transmutation of gaseous nitrogen into carbon monoxide, followed by oxidation of the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. A method for generating energy comprises passing a continuous flow of nitrogen or air, or a plasma thereof, through an optionally enclosed reactor in which electron discharge takes place, resulting in the nuclear transmutation of gaseous nitrogen into carbon monoxide, followed by oxidation of the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for the process apparatus, comprising a reactor with a pressure reducing means (6) and an inlet (7) for providing an intermittent supply of nitrogen or air; at least one cathode and at least one anode on the inner side of the reactor space ends; a means connected to the cathode (4) and anode (5), used for generating high voltage pulses with a predetermined waveform and frequency between the cathode and anode; a casing around the reactor, through which air flows in order to be heated by the process heat from the reactor; and optional conduits for recirculating the heat-laden air back to the casing.



WO03025951
Multi-Step, Time Programmed Procedure For The Transmutation Of Radioactive Wastes And Multi-Region Salt Melt Apparatus For Carrying Out The Procedure    

G. Csom / A.  Aszodi

Also published as:     HU226177 / HU0103762 /  US2005013397 / RU2004111795 /   JP2005503568

A radiocactive waste containing medium is circulated within two or more systems (1,2,3) separated from each other flowtechnically; and the circulated radioactive waste is exposed to neutron radiations of different energy spectrum in each system by operating a reactor physically united entirety of irradiated sections of the said systems as a nuclear reactor or an accelerator driven subcritical system. Each system (1,2,3) has a heat exchanger (9,10) and, in given cases, a circulating pump (10,21) and an expansion tank (5,16,27). The disclosed apparatus has two or more reactor regions (1,2,3) separated from each other by partitions (37,38) and, preferably, arranged coaxially within a reactor space encircled by a common shell structure (39). A particle beam (45) produced by a particle accelerator is preferably directed into the innermost reactor region (3).



WO9735324
Method For Preparing Highly Radioactive Materials For Transmutation And/Or Burn-Up     

C. Fuch s / S. Fourcaudo

Also published as:  GR3036593 / PT888623 / LU88727 / JP2000506976 /  ES2159115

The invention concerns a method of preparing highly radioactive materials for transmutation and/or burn-up by irradiation in a nuclear plant. The invention proposes that the materials are first converted into liquid form by melting or chemical dissolution and a porous carrier material which is essentially insoluble in the liquefied materials is impregnated with the liquefied materials and then heated in such a way that the materials are converted into the finally required chemical form and density.



RU2212072
Method And Device For Transmutation Of Radioactive Wastes

A. V. Levadnyj / K. Rutkovskaja
 
 FIELD: nuclear power engineering. SUBSTANCE: proposed method and device are intended for power generation, transmutation of radioactive wastes, burnout of weapon plutonium and actinides. Interaction of neutron beam coming from neutron generator is effected on lead matrix wherein nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes are distributed; then they are decelerated and bred in subcritical thermal core. Device implementing this method has its central target made in the form of lead matrix with nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes distributed therein. EFFECT: enhanced efficiency of transmutation process.
 

 
RU2343575
Method Of Long-Living Radionuclides Fixation For Storage And Transmutation     

V. Tikhonov  / K. Kapustin

FIELD: chemistry, waste recycling. ^ SUBSTANCE: invention relates to field of liquid radioactive wastes recycling. Long-living radionuclides are isolated from nitric acid solution of used nuclear fuel (UNF) into solid phase in form of acetates, oxides and other compounds, which do not contain elements strongly activated with neutrons. Radionuclides are imbedded and fixed in carbon matrix. Carbon matrix is obtained in process of carrying out reaction of metal acetates with excess of phthalonitryl and their further pyrolysis. For radionuclides isolated from UNF in form of oxides or other compounds, carbon matrix is obtained by their mixing with yttrium acetate, then synthesis and pyrolysis of yttrium diphthalocyanine are carried out. Operation of synthesis and pyrolysis of yttrium diphthalocyanine is carried out in inert atmosphere, pyrolysis is carried out at T=850-1100 DEG C.; Obtained carbon matrix does not contain elements strongly activated with neutrons, which allows using it both for long-term storage and for transmutation of long-living radionuclides without any chemical processing and additional operations. ^ EFFECT: obtaining carbon matrix which can be used both for long-term storage and for transmutation of long-living radionuclides without any chemical processing and additional operations.



RU2156001
Radioactive Waste Processing Technique

B. Taratorin / S. Ivanov

SUBSTANCE: radioactive wastes are placed in nuclear explosion zone of weapon plutonium wherein intensive neutron flux is allowed to pass through them to convert them to steam that condenses into particles measuring about 10-6 cm. Neutron flux and heat energy released due to explosion of weapon plutonium cause transmutation of nuclides in desired quantities and their separation into long- and short-living ones in condensed state from steam by centrifuging. Proposed technique provides for using products of explosion to produce electrical energy and transuranium elements. EFFECT: provision for peaceful use of weapon plutonium.



CN101325092
Solution stack for burning plutonium and transmutation of neptunium-237 or americium-241
   
Wu Yinghua / W.  Lianjie

The invention discloses a solution reactor used for the plutonium combustion and the neptunium-237 or the americium-241 transmutation. The solution reactor adopts plutonium or plutonium and americium in the spent fuel of the nuclear power plant as the fuel, and adopts neptunium-237 or americium-241 as the target. By adopting the solution reactor, the minor actinides which have long half life and high toxicity and can not be stored for a long time, such as the neptunium-237 or the americium-241, can be changed into nuclides with short half life and low toxicity through transmutation. Because the solution reactor adopts the spent fuel and can generate electricity at the low temperature, the cost-effectiveness and the security are high; the neutron provided by the plutonium combustion can extract plutonium-238 from the neptunium-237 solution target as the isotope battery, thereby the inexpensive energy is provided; the americium-242m extracted from the americium-241 solution target can be widely applied to the aerospace industry and the medical industry



US2008240330
Compact Device for Dual Transmutation for Isotope Production Permitting Production of Positron Emitters, Beta Emitters and Alpha Emitters Using Energetic Electrons     

Charles Holden

A method and apparatus for directing high energy electrons to a converter material that emits gamma rays, which, in turn interact directly with parent isotopes to produce unstable, short-lived medical isotopes and product isotopes by the gamma, n reaction, or which interact with high-z materials to produce neutrons that then produce valuable isotopes by neutron capture in parent isotopes.



NL1033078
Energy generating process, by applying voltage between cathode comprising transmutation elements and anode in reactor vessel containing plasma
     
Arie de Geus

The process comprises the following steps: (A) adding hydrogen to a reactor vessel (6) containing a cathode (8), anode (9) and optionally an ionization element; the cathode comprises a primary and secondary transmutation element, the cores of which contain more neutrons than protons; the primary element contains a neutron with a preferable orientation; (B) ionizing at least some of the hydrogen to form a plasma; (C) applying a voltage difference with a given time character between the cathode and anode, causing a flow of protons towards the cathode, to which they become temporarily bonded; the transmutation elements next to the cathode surface and in the resulting plasma vortex fuse to form an element with a higher mass number and a second element or molecule with a lower mass number; and (D) collecting the radiation, which can be converted directly into electricity or heat.



US2005155340
Method and apparatus for the transmutation of nuclear waste with tandem production of tritium

El-Sharawy  / El-Badawy

Also published as: US2005145031 / AU2001297883

The transmutation of radioactive material using a hybrid transmutation reactor is disclosed wherein a kinetic proton source is used to collisionally induce the transmutation of radioactive material with the generation of thermal neutrons as a byproduct. Additionally, a system and method for the production of Tritium utilizing the thermal neutrons generated in the transmutation process is further described. The present invention offers advantages and improvements over existing nuclear reactor technologies in that nuclear waste may be rendered inert, or otherwise at least partially deactivated and/or made less dangerous, with the substantially simultaneous production of energy and/or Tritium as a byproduct of the transmutation process.


 
US2009135981
Element Transmutation Method And Energy Generation Method

Norio Yabuuchi

Also published as:  JP2009128300

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a reliable method to output energy using nucleus condensation. ; SOLUTION: Deuterium nuclei are coordinated at vertical angle positions of each face constituting a regular hexahedron, inside a metallic crystal. Electrons are coordinated to the other vertical angle positions. By Coulomb attraction acting between four protons and four electrons, four deuterium nuclei are fused to transmute into two helium atoms



US6442226
Accelerator-driven transmutation of spent fuel elements

Venneri, et al.

An apparatus and method is described for transmuting higher actinides, plutonium and selected fission products in a liquid-fuel subcritical assembly. Uranium may also be enriched, thereby providing new fuel for use in conventional nuclear power plants. An accelerator provides the additional neutrons required to perform the processes. The size of the accelerator needed to complete fuel cycle closure depends on the neutron efficiency of the supported reactors and on the neutron spectrum of the actinide transmutation apparatus. Treatment of spent fuel from light water reactors (LWRs) using uranium-based fuel will require the largest accelerator power, whereas neutron-efficient high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs) or CANDU reactors will require the smallest accelerator power, especially if thorium is introduced into the newly generated fuel according to the teachings of the present invention. Fast spectrum actinide transmutation apparatus (based on liquid-metal fuel) will take full advantage of the accelerator-produced source neutrons and provide maximum utilization of the actinide-generated fission neutrons. However, near-thermal transmutation apparatus will require lower standing inventories of plutonium and higher actinides. Uranium, presently the largest volume constituent in nuclear waste, is fully utilized and not discharged as waste. Since no plutonium, higher actinides or fission products are present in the reconstituted fuel elements, the present processes can be used repeatedly. Since the performance of the existing reactors is not changed, full utilization of both thorium and uranium resources is achieved.



US6738446
System and method for radioactive waste destruction     

Mike Venneri / Francesco Baxter

Also published as: WO2004040588 / CN101061552

A method for transmuting spent fuel from a nuclear reactor includes the step of separating the waste into components including a driver fuel component and a transmutation fuel component. The driver fuel, which includes fissile materials such as Plutonium<239>, is used to initiate a critical, fission reaction in a reactor. The transmutation fuel, which includes non-fissile transuranic isotopes, is transmuted by thermal neutrons generated during fission of the driver fuel. The system is designed to promote fission of the driver fuel and reduce neutron capture by the driver fuel. Reacted driver fuel is separated into transuranics and fission products using a dry cleanup process and the resulting transuranics are mixed with transmutation fuel and re-introduced into the reactor.; Transmutation fuel from the reactor is introduced into a second reactor for further transmutation by neutrons generated using a proton beam and spallation target.



JP2007322202
Method, Device And Program For Predicting Nuclear Reaction In Flocculation System, And Method For Detecting Substance After Nuclide Transmutation     

Ito Takehiko / Iwamura Yasuhiro

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for predicting nuclear reaction in a flocculation system which enables high-accuracy prediction of the nuclear reaction. ; SOLUTION: In the method for predicting the nuclear reaction in the flocculation system, where a substance which is subjected to nuclide transmutation is placed in contact with a structure in the flocculation system and deuterium is made to flow into it to induce nuclear reaction in the substance which is subjected to nuclide transmutation; a substance where 2n (n is a natural number) is added to both the atomic number and the mass number, respectively of the substance to which nuclide transmutation is given is predicted as being the substance to be generated after the nuclide transmutation.



WO2006005813
Method And Device For Transmutation Of Nucleons Free Of Prior Or Permanent Plasma           

G. Vitrac

The invention concerns a method and a device for transmutation of nucleons free of prior or permanent plasma to provide particles whereof the kinetic energy is quantified for resonance of the active section for specialized application. The exact distribution results from vector compositions of quanta generated by structural piezoelectric actuators and spin inducers. The fusion is then obtained by activation ad minima tunnel effect. The economy and reliability of the system are linked to the programming of quantum models representative of discrete cycles, and the minimized supply of reagents with stage-recycling possibilities, and annihilations, while promoting the option of low level radiation. Various fields of application concern said inventive mini-reactor such as radiochemistry, medical imaging and non-destructive controls, selection and treatments of waste.



US2004047443
Electron capture by magnetic resonance

E. Bondoc

The process of capturing electron by subjecting proton to magnetic resonance until its magnetic moment is in opposite direction relative to the electron's magnetic moment. As soon as the particles' magnetic moments are opposite in direction, spinlocking technique is applied for a period of time to induce transmutation of the particles and the consequent reactions of the product with an adjacent particle or a group of particles and the release of energy.



US2007297554
Method And System For Production Of Radioisotopes, And Radioisotopes Produced Thereby     

E. Lavie / I. Silverman

Also published as: WO2006035424 / EP1807844 / EP1807844 / AT468589

A system and method for the production of radioisotopes by the transmutation of target isotopic material bombarded by a continuous wave particle beam. An ion source generates a continuous wave ion beam, irradiating an isotope target, which is cooled by transferring heat away from the target at heat fluxes of at least about 1 kW/cm<2>.



US2003016774
Method and apparatus for stimulated beta decays

R. Santilli

Method for the synthesis of neutrons from protons and electrons comprising apparatus for said protons and electrons to have a threshold relative energy of about 0.80 MeV, for said protons and electrons to be in anti-parallel coupling, and for forcing said protons and electrons in anti-parallel coupling to be at a mutual distance essentially of one Fermi. Another embodiment includes a method for the stimulated decay of a peripheral neutron in a nucleus. Another embodiment includes apparatus for the stimulated beta decay of a natural isotope into another natural isotope, the latter having the same number of nucleons of the former and one additional proton, wherein the conservation of total energy, angular momentum and parity are satisfied. Another embodiment includes apparatus for the stimulated beta decay of radioactive waste.



US8373087
A PLASMA TORCH FOR USE IN A WASTE PROCESSING CHAMBER

Also published as: WO2006114793 / KR20080005986 / JP2008539061

The invention is a plasma torch for insertion through an opening in the wall of a waste processing chamber. The plasma torch of the invention is characterized by comprising a coaxial sleeve having an upper end and a lower end. The sleeve surrounds at least the portion of the outer surface of the torch that is located in the opening, thereby forming an insulating chamber between the outer surface if the torch and the inner surface of the sleeve. At least a portion of the portion of the coaxial sleeve that surrounds at least the portion of the outer surface of the torch that is located in the opening in the wall of the processing chamber is porous or permeable to a heat exchanging fluid. The torch comprises an inlet for introducing the heat exchanging fluid into the insulating chamber. When the plasma torch is inserted through the opening, a gap exists between the processing chamber wall and the coaxial sleeve. Thus the coaxial sleeve and the insulating chamber shield the outer surface of the plasma torch from a significant amount of the heat that radiates from the processing chamber wall and from inside the processing chamber and the heat exchanging fluid that flows through the inlet exits the insulating chamber into the processing chamber.



US8090072
Neutron-driven element transmuter

Carlo Rubbia
 
Also published as: WO9859347 / US7796720 / SK166999 / SK286044
 
A material is exposed to a neutron flux by distributing it in a neutron-diffusing medium surrounding a neutron source. The diffusing medium is transparent to neutrons and so arranged that neutron scattering substantially enhances the neutron flux to which the material is exposed. Such enhanced neutron exposure may be used to produce useful radioisotopes, in particular for medical applications, from the transmutation of readily-available isotopes included in the exposed material. It may also be used to efficiently transmute long-lived radioactive wastes, such as those recovered from spent nuclear fuel. The use of heavy elements, such as lead and/or bismuth, as the diffusing medium is particularly of interest, since it results in a slowly decreasing scan through the neutron energy spectrum, thereby permitting very efficient resonant neutron capture in the exposed material.
 

 
JP2005062025
Method For Increasing Nuclear Transmutation Quantity From Nuclear Transmutation Device And Nuclear Transmutation Device

M. Sakano / T. Ito

To provide a method for increasing a nuclide quantity which enables transmutation from a nuclear transmutation device in the first nuclear transmutation process, and a nuclear transmutation device. ; SOLUTION: With this method, a nuclear transmutation quantity from a nuclear transmutation device is increased by a process for applying electrolysis process or plasma treatment to a surface of a structure including a hydrogen occlusion metal, and adding a material causing nuclear transmutation to the surface



WO2008041254
APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NEUTRONS BY MEANS OF ULTRASOUNDS AND THE CAVITATION OF SUBSTANCES

Fabio CARDONE

The invention relates to an apparatus and a process for the production of neutrons in doses which are not dangerous for living beings, starting from stable elements by means of insonation or sonication using an electromechanical transducer, called a sonotrode-cavitator, characterized in that said electromechanical transducer comprises a stack of piezoelectric elements mechanically connected to a sonotrode of such a size as to operate at its own resonance frequency as a function of the electrical activation energy applied to said piezoelectric elements. The process is conducted in the liquid phase, preferably in the presence of iron ions at atmospheric pressure in an open environment to make the bubbles naturally present in the liquid phase implode.



WO2008041255
PROCESS AND PLANT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ENDOTHERMIC AND EXOTHERMIC PIEZONUCLEAR REACTIONS BY MEANS OF ULTRASOUNDS AND THE CAVITATION OF SUBSTANCES

Fabio CARDONE

Also published as:  ITRM20060522

The invention relates to a process and plant for the production of endothermic and exothermic piezonuclear reactions by means of ultrasounds and the cavitation of substances. The plant comprises in sequence a storage tank for the working liquid containing an active medium in solution and/or in suspension, said storage tank being connected up to a cavitation chamber in which the piezonuclear reactions take place. In the case of exothermic reactions, there is production of vapour under high pressure, which is then conveyed to a turbine for the production of mechanical energy or electrical energy by means of an alternator or equivalent; the process is accompanied by the secondary phenomenon of production of material different from that making up the working liquid. In the case of endothermic reactions, there is consumption of electrical energy for the generation of piezonuclear reactions that produce substances regarded as useful starting from the working liquid available.



WO2008041253
APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR THE QUENCHING OF THE RADIOACTIVITY OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS BY MEANS OF PIEZONUCLEAR REACTIONS INDUCED BY ULTRASOUNDS AND CAVITATION

Fabio CARDONE

The invention relates to an apparatus and a process for reducing the radioactivity of natural and/or artificial elements through piezonuclear reactions generated by means of insonation or sonication using an electromechanical transducer. The apparatus is characterised in that said electromechanical transducer comprises a stack of piezoelectric elements mechanically connected to a sonotrode of such a size as to operate at its own resonance frequency as a function of the electrical activation energy applied to said piezoelectric elements, to obtain the cavitation of the bubbles present in the liquid in which the radioactive substances are to be placed.



US6233299 
Assembly for transmutation of a long-lived radioactive material

Wakabayashi

Abstract -- A new transmutation assembly permits an efficient transmutation of a long-lived radioactive material (long-lived FP nuclides such as technetium-99 or iodine-129) which was produced in the nuclear reactor. Wire-type members of a long-lived radioactive material comprised of metals, alloys or compounds including long-lived FP nuclides are surrounded by a moderator material and installed in cladding tubes to form FP pins. The FP pins, and nothing else, are housed in a wrapper tube to form a transmutation assembly. The wire-type members can be replaced by thin ring-type members. The transmutation assemblies can be selectively and at least partly loaded into a core region, a blanket region or a shield region of a reactor core in a fast reactor. From a viewpoint of reducing the influence on the reactor core characteristics, it is optimal to load the transmutation assemblies into the blanket region.



US6233298 
Apparatus for transmutation of nuclear reactor waste

Bowman

A subcritical reactor-like apparatus for treating nuclear wastes, the apparatus comprising a vessel having a shell and an internal volume, the internal volume housing graphite. The apparatus having means for introducing a fluid medium comprising molten salts and plutonium and minor actinide waste and/or fission products. The apparatus also having means for introducing neutrons into the internal volume wherein absorption of the neutrons after thermalization forms a processed fluid medium through fission chain events averaging approximately 10 fission events to approximately 100 fission events. The apparatus having additional means for removing the processed fluid medium from the internal volume. The processed fluid medium typically has no usefulness for production of nuclear weapons.



US5160696 
Apparatus for nuclear transmutation and power production using an intense accelerator-generated thermal neutron flux

Bowman

Apparatus for nuclear transmutation and power production using an intense accelerator-generated thermal neutron flux. High thermal neutron fluxes generated from the action of a high power proton accelerator on a spallation target allows the efficient burn-up of higher actinide nuclear waste by a two-step process. Additionally, rapid burn-up of fission product waste for nuclides having small thermal neutron cross sections, and the practicality of small material inventories while achieving significant throughput derive from employment of such high fluxes. Several nuclear technology problems are addressed including 1. nuclear energy production without a waste stream requiring storage on a geological timescale, 2. the burn-up of defense and commercial nuclear waste, and 3. the production of defense nuclear material. The apparatus includes an accelerator, a target for neutron production surrounded by a blanket region for transmutation, a turbine for electric power production, and a chemical processing facility. In all applications, the accelerator power may be generated internally from fission and the waste produced thereby is transmuted internally so that waste management might not be required beyond the human lifespan.



US 5848110 / US5764715
Method and apparatus for transmutation of atomic nuclei

Maenchen, et al.     

The present invention addresses the problems outlined above. An accelerator based on a combination of a high repetition rate high energy pulsed power supply (RHEPP) and a magnetically-injected anode plasma (MAP) source diode is used to provide pulsed particle beams having intermediate energy (0.2-20 MeV) and average power levels of hundreds of kilowatts to megawatts. This will increase the rate of isotopic production by 2-3 orders of magnitude over processes based on conventional accelerators. Any gaseous ion can be accelerated with this technology (proton, deuteron, and helium beams are of special interest). This capability can be applied to transmute target nuclei selectively into desired isotopes. RHEPP/MAP accelerators are also extremely power efficient and relatively small in size, making application of small units practical in, for example, major local or regional medical facilities. Finally, the use of relatively low beam particle energies reduces or eliminates the problem of undesired products and the subsequent generation of radioactive waste. Although the invention is being discussed in terms of embodiment via the RHEPP/MAP system, any pulsed ion beam generator having sufficient ion kinetic energy and total average beam current can be used in the same manner.



US 4961880
Electrostatic Voltage Excitation Process and Apparatus

William A. Barker

Accelerated decay of radioactive materials is used for power production. In the method of this invention an alpha-emitting radioactive material is placed in a region. The region is selected so that when a negative potential is applied to the region, enhanced alpha decay of the radioactive material results. The energy of the alpha decay particles is captured and converted to thermal energy.


 
US Patent 5076971
Method for Enhancing Alpha Decay in Radioactive Materials

William Barker

Apparatus and method for decontaminating radioactive materials by stimulating the atomic system of radioactive materials. The stimulus is kept applied to the radioactive materials for a predetermined time. In this way, the rate of decay of the radioactivity of the materials is greatly accelerated and the materials are thereby decontaminated at a rate much faster than normal. The stimulus can be applied to the radioactive materials placing them within the sphere or terminal of a Van de Graaff generator and allowing them to be subjected to the electrical potential of the generator, such as in the range of 50 kilovolts to 500 kilovolts, for at least a period of 30 minutes or more.


 
US2003138068
Method for Transmutation of Long-Living Radioactive Isotopes into Short-Living or Stable Ones

V.S. Buttsev, et al.

Also published as: EP1274099 // WO0173474 / RU2169405

Nuclear physics; decontamination of radioactive wastes and the like from long-living radioactive isotopes. Substance: transmutation of long-living radioactive isotopes into short-living or stable ones is conducted under the action of electromagnetic radiation. In the process, highly ionized atoms with energy- resolved hole of accelerated beta-decay are produced from atoms of long-living radioactive isotope and held in ionized state until transmutation of mother nuclei to daughter short-living or stable ones takes place. With coefficient of operating time k preset for daughter nuclei, atoms of long-living radioactive isotope are held in highly ionized state for at least time beta, where beta is lifetime of mother nuclei under accelerated beta-decay conditions. Electromagnetic radiation may be effected by beams of accelerated charged particles (electrons, protons, or ions) or by photon flux. Radiation by charged-particle beam may be combined with photonflux radiation. Effect:  enhanced transmutation efficiency dispensing with nuclear reactions of collision character and avoiding formation of by-products.


 
US2002186805
Accelerated Radioactivity Reduction

Sidney Soloway

A method for reducing radioactivity in a radioactive sample is disclosed, comprising contacting said sample with a beam of photons, said beam having an energy level sufficient to cause said radioactive sample to emit particles including photons in an amount sufficient to accelerate a reduction in radioactivity of said sample. Also disclosed is a method of increasing radioactive decay in a radioactive isotope comprising the steps of: determining a beam of an effective energy and effective flux of photons to increase radioactive decay in the radioactive isotope; applying the beam to the radioactive isotope; and maintaining the beam for an amount of time effective to increase the radioactivity of the radioactive isotope.


 
US20040238366
Method and System with Apparatus for Acceleration of Activity Decrease and Radioactive Material Deactivation

Vladimirovich, Kinderevich, et al.

Radioactive material can be processed by an apparatus that includes at least a cylindrical outer shell electrode, an inner electrode, and a plurality of prism-shaped ferromagnetic elements positioned between the outer and inner electrodes. The prism-shaped ferromagnetic elements are positioned around the inner circumference of the metal cylinder. The inner electrode component is located within the metal cylinder and is configured to cover the inwardly-pointing portions of the prism-shaped ferromagnetic elements. Radioactive material in a container is placed into the apparatus, and an AC voltage excitation signal is applied to the electrodes of the apparatus during treatment of the material. The frequency of the excitation signal is selected according to the frequency of structurization or the frequency of destructurization of the ferromagnetic material. The process can be monitored and controlled with the use of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation intensity measuring instruments.



David YURTH, et al. : High Density Charged Clusters
[ cf. Ken SHOULDERS ]

From: David G. Yurth <davidyurth@comcast.net>
To: 'Gary Vesperman' <garyvesperman@yahoo.com>
September 28, 2013
Subject: RE: High burn-Up spent nuclear fuel: The problems multiply...

Gary –
 
I have beaten my head against this wall since 1994, when S-X Jin, David Faust and I began testing High Density Charge Clusters as a way of Remediating radioactive emissions produced by spent nuclear fuels. We developed a system that was totally viable. We developed the math that explained what it was and how it worked. WE conducted the experimental protocols for 7 years and documented the procedures that were used to enable and sustain it. We submitted this info to US DOE in 2003 by invitation. In 2004 our system was independently validated by the guys at Sandia Labs. In 2005 I was contacted by Dr. Frank Goldner, the senior nuclear scientist responsible for developing and testing remediation technologies at the agency. He screamed at me and threatened to have me and Dick Shamp arrested under FISA unless we stopped sending documentation to the Department and discontinued our work. I stopped. Dick did not. In 2009, after Obama was elected, Dick contacted the #3 guy at DOE, a career bureaucrat who has served as personal private secretary to the Sec’y of DOE for more than 30 years named Dr. Eysan Khan. He apologized profusely for the way we had been treated and invited me to come to DC to present the HDCC methodology to all 26 of his senior department heads. Two weeks before I was scheduled to make the trip, he called to tell me that he had gotten so much push-back from ‘clients’ of DOE about my presentation that he couldn’t tolerate the pressure. The presentation was cancelled.
 
This has nothing to do with Yucca Mountain . It has everything to do with the government’s secret and unlawful use of public utilities who generate atomic power as the source for high grade uranium and weapons grade plutonium. They don’t want the problem solved because it would deprive them of their only viable source of supply. They don’t give a fart in a windstorm about the risks they impose on local populations like Fukushima – all they care about is using nuclear weapons to control the planet. And they are getting away with it. That’s why this subject makes no sense to anyone who talks about it – the real agenda has nothing to do with public safety or possible catastrophic contamination of the planet.
 
Dave

Excerpted from David Yurth's book "The Ho Chi Minh Guerilla Warfare Handbook: A Strategic Guide For Innovation Management" --
 
Of all the problems I have participated in developing solutions for, perhaps the most important and frustrating has been the development of a system for treating radioactive fuel wastes produced by nuclear power plants. After WWII, the development of nuclear power plants was hailed as the final solution for the energy shortage supply-side crisis predicted by so many for so long. The use of atomic power was touted as the final solution for the problem. Unfortunately, before the 20th Century was ended, we had witnessed the catastrophes at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. By the end of the century, America had hit the wall with the set of problems posed by accumulating stockpiles of spent nuclear waste materials.
 
We’ve all seen the statistics. Fifty-two thousand metric tons of spent fuel rods and three hundred eighty thousand cubic meters of solid nuclear waste, which does not include three hundred forty-five million liters of liquefied high level radioactive waste materials are now being collected and stored on more than 140 sites across the nation. [[1]] The US Department of Energy has embarked on a suicidal program to encapsulate and bury all of this material underground beneath Yucca Mountain, a series of limestone caves located in the desert of Western Nevada. Environmentalists have risen up in fury to prevent Yucca Mountain from happening, and the government has mindlessly rolled out its agendas as it always does. The nature and extent of the problem has been deliberately minimized, distorted, and polarized by the opposing forces. The dangers involved in transporting, encapsulating and burying nuclear waste have been denied, suppressed, spun, and ignored by everyone who stands to profit from participation in the program.
 
The governor of Nevada has vowed to prevent the importation and burial of high level nuclear waste materials in his state by any and every means possible. He has threatened civil disobedience and promised to call out the National Guard to prevent shipments from being delivered in his state. The Nevada legislature successfully importuned its congressional representatives and senators to create a protected wildlife sanctuary around Yucca Mountain so that water, roads, railroads, and all the accompanying development that is called for in the DOE’s plan cannot be lawfully implemented. In exchange, the DOE published a series of scientific and engineering reports purporting to show that the site is totally safe for the storage of high level nuclear waste products. The reports have since been shown to be specious, but the DOE’s policy remains. President Bush has vowed to override Congressional action using the power of the presidential pen. The battle lines have been drawn.
 
After talking about the problem with several colleagues, we decided that remediation of radioactive emissions generated by spent nuclear fuel wastes was a problem that could and should be solved. We assumed that because so much attention was being focused on the overriding nature of the problem, it was something that deserved our best efforts. My opinion about it at the time was based on the notion that if the problem of radioactive waste could be eliminated from the equation, then nuclear power could be developed in a way that might eventually provide a safe, manageable, reasonably benign alternative to damming rivers, burning coal, and combusting natural gas to produce electric power. It seemed logical and reasonable to all of us.
 
I began the process in much the same way as I do with any project I participate in. I surveyed the literature, contacted experts, evaluated available technologies, corresponded with friends at DOE and other government agencies, and worked for more than a year to familiarize myself with the territory. I went to some scientific conferences, met some of the private and public sector experts, and listened to their descriptions of the challenges presented by the accumulation of high level nuclear waste at places like Savannah  River, Hanford and more than 100 others. I reviewed reports printed and circulated by the DOE and some of its contract laboratory research partners. After nearly a year, I decided that there were a couple of approaches that could be taken to solving the problem that no one else was pursuing.
 
In 1995 I met with a very special Chinese physicist by the name of Shiang Xian Jin. Before he escaped from the PRC in 1993, he was the top plasma physicist in China. He wrote the physics texts that are still being used to teach plasma physics in Chinese universities nearly two decades later. While serving as the Head of the Physics Department at Beijing University, he was also tasked by the Chinese government with the primary responsibility for evaluating all energy production inventions created by inventors in the PRC. He knows science and scientists because he is one. He knows invention and inventors because he has become thoroughly familiar with the process. When I met him, he was working in a small, privately owned laboratory that was one of the spin-offs from the Pons and Fleischmann cold fusion debacle. When I met him, Jin was writing papers about a totally new kind of technology, patented in the US by a genius inventor/scientist by the name of Kenneth Shoulders. His discovery of a new kind of electron cluster was fascinating because the phenomenon described in his patent was specifically prohibited by the standard physical model as a violation of basic quantum mechanical principles.[[2]]
 
Jin’s papers describing the behaviors and dynamics of Shoulders’ High Density Charge Clusters were published in the peer reviewed Journal of New Energy, printed and distributed by the International New Energy consortium, a loose affiliation of scientists, engineers, technologists, and inventors from around the world. [[3]] At the 1997 INE convention, Jin and Shoulders presented papers and held discussions about HDCC’s as a possible solution for the nuclear waste material treatment option we had begun to work on. Several major players in the research community attended and participated in these discussions, including George Miley of the University of Chicago, Rugerro Santilli of MIT, Tom Valone of the US Patent and Trademark Office, Eugene Mallove, also formerly of MIT [and publisher of Infinite Energy Magazine and Executive Director of the Integrity Research Institute in Camden, New Jersey] and Tom Bearden, eminent inventor and founder of the Union of Distinguished Scientists.
 
Papers by Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and other scientists from the former Soviet Union were also presented at subsequent conferences and published in later issues of the JNE. Eventually, we began to develop a consensus about HDCC behaviors and attributes. Much of the work that proved the utility of HDCC’s as a way to eliminate radioactive emissions from high level spent nuclear fuels was supplied by Jin, his high voltage discharge and instrumentation engineer David Faust of Drexel University, and by Dr. Leonhardt Schroedter, a high profile materials and systems designer with more than 40 patents issued while he worked for Boeing, Rockwell, and other aerospace companies. After seven years of testing and bench top development, Jin and Faust succeeded in demonstrating that a simple high voltage charge cluster generator could produce a high density stream of clusters of electrons which could be propelled through a proton-rich environment [such as deuteride gas] to impact a radioactive target material in a way that would effectively eliminate gamma ray emissions and reduce alpha [nuclear particle] emissions to ambient background levels in less than seven hours. It was a good beginning. 
 
In simple terms, what this meant was that a low velocity torus [a self-organizing standing wave in the shape of a donut] comprised of 6.022 x 1023 electrons [also known as Avogadro’s Number, this is 6.022 times 10 with 23 zeroes after it] could be generated by a controlled device, magnetically driven through a cloud of free protons and directed at a specific target with control and consistency. The velocity of the charge clusters was relatively low [less than 10% of the speed of light] when compared to the kinds of velocities demonstrated by nuclear particle accelerators, but the amount of kinetic energy produced by the interaction was enormous. For each 108 electrons, a single proton was captured in the negatively charged center of the torus. Because protons are 1,883 times more dense than electrons, this meant that instead of bombarding the nucleus of a radioactive material with one high speed particle at a time, which is the basis of the catastrophic annihilation on which atomic bombs are based, each charge cluster was carrying 1015 protons in its center.
 
While the velocity may have been relatively low, the amount of mass contained in each charge cluster was huge by atomic standards. When the mass of protons impacted the surface of the radioactive target material, the protons penetrated deeply into the sub-surface layers. Unlike neutrons, which travel in a very orderly, linear way, protons bob and weave around the perimeter and in between other atoms because of the strong positive charge they carry. This attribute of protons in such high numbers, traveling at very high actual velocities, meant that many of the protons struck the nuclei of atoms making up the radioactive targets. The product of the impact was not catastrophic because the kinetic energy carried by the protons was insufficient to destroy the atoms. Instead, in the same way a bowling ball knocks the pins down on a bowling alley, the proton’s impact with a nucleus knocked the nuclear materials apart without annihilating the structure.
 
The temporary separation of the nuclear materials released significant amounts of light and heat, which represented the product of the dissipation of the binding energies imposed by the strong and weak nuclear forces. But instead of creating a chain reaction, the impact simply knocked the atomic particles apart long enough to release as much as 50% of the nuclear binding energies. Very shortly after being knocked apart by the proton impact, the nuclear particles realigned themselves and rejoined to form nuclei with lower energy states and smaller atomic nuclear numbers. What we also discovered was that the recombining process actually created new material with atomic numbers that were different from any of the materials originally contained in the target samples. This was an important discovery because it meant that the mathematical model which predicted that the target material would literally be transmuted into new materials could be verified.
 
We demonstrated the technique’s effectiveness with both solid and liquid nuclear waste materials in successive trials conducted over a period of seven years. Jin, Faust, Schroedter, and Shoulders worked together to create a mathematical model to describe the interactions created by HDCC’s and published their findings in the JNE in 1999. In 2000, I went to work as CEO of Primary Technologies in Chicago and immediately contracted Jin to pursue his work as one of the technologies sponsored by Primary. Dick Shamp, former environmental scientist and intelligence analyst, who has been a member of the Republican National Committee for more than 40 years and is therefore well connected politically in Washington, worked with us to create a new company called Nuclear Remediation Technologies. This company was created to provide a home for the newly emerging HDCC-based nuclear remediation treatment program we had worked so hard to develop.
 
By the time Primary imploded in the late Winter of 2001, Jin’s remediation model had been validated by other physicists, including notorious physicist Jack Sarfatti, who produced an extensive critical analysis of Jin’s mathematical formulations.[[4]] Tom Bearden and the Union of Distinguished Scientists also reviewed the model and Jin’s test results. In their 2001 monograph entitled “Reformulation of Maxwell’s Electrodynamic Field Equations,” Bearden, along with world-class mathematicians Lawrence Crowell and Myron Evans and 18 other scientists and mathematicians validated the mathematical formulations by showing that the phenomenon of the High Density Charge Cluster is specifically called for in Maxwell’s original quaternion equations. In addition, we discovered that scientists in China and Ukraine had also developed charge cluster generator technologies which produced quantum-defined clusters that conformed perfectly to the attributes predicted by Jin’s model.
 
By the end of 2002, we were confident that we had developed and validated a simple, affordable, effective way to treat high level nuclear waste materials so that they produced no radioactive emissions at all. In fact, when the laboratory results were validated by other laboratories, it was discovered that spent nuclear fuel rods could be induced to produce up to nine times as much heat output during HDCC treatment as they do before being retired to water-borne storage tanks. This, we thought, was just icing on a very attractive and commercially valuable technological cake. We were ready, it appeared, to put the wheels on the HDCC radioactive emissions treatment program by driving NRT into the capital formation process.
 
Just as we were putting the pieces together, a brilliant and much valued colleague died suddenly and unexpectedly in an automobile motorcycle accident. Dr. Paul Brown, (Nuclear Solutions, Aurora, Colorado) had developed a novel method to remediate nuclear waste by photo nuclear reaction using high intensity gamma-rays. The technology utilized long established principles of physics [e.g. giant dipole resonance] that had also been overlooked in their possible application in the treatment of nuclear waste. Brown’s nuclear spallation device had been built and demonstrated in Japan and was on its way to the US for demonstration to the House Science & Technology Committee in Washington, DC, when his death occurred. This event exerted a chilling effect on the members of the INE because it appeared to all of us that his death may not have been accidental at all.
 
From the outset, our team had acted on a set of assumptions that seemed completely valid at the time but which later proved to be very ill advised. We assumed, for example, that because the nuclear waste problem was global, everyone would welcome a solution. We assumed that our agendas for carefully, scientifically defining and resolving the problem sets were consistent with those of the government agencies tasked by law and public policy to do the same thing. We assumed that the public utilities and providers of the technologies that support the nuclear power production industry would welcome a simple, cost-effective, efficient solution to a universal problem. We were sadly mistaken but did not discover how misguided our attempts were until several years and many hundreds of thousands of dollars later.
 
Dick Shamp, in his role as President of Nuclear Remediation Technologies, contacted Dr. Condoleezza Rice while she was serving as Director of the National Security Council at the White House. She passed his proposal off to one of her NSC staff members, who sent it to the Department of Energy. The proposal eventually found its way to the desk of Dr. Frank Goldner, AFCI Program Technical Director, Office of Advanced Nuclear Research, at DOE, who eventually responded by inviting us to submit a raft of documents, all of which taken together were needed to provide DOE’s staff engineers and scientists with sufficient information to enable them to evaluate our claims and determine whether the HDCC program would qualify for research and development support. Over a two year period we produced more than 1,800 pages of application and disclosure documents, project descriptions, white papers, laboratory reports, R&D protocols, benchmarks, timetables, milestones, and so on. The process was costly and time consuming, but we kept at it because we had convinced ourselves that all the work we were engaged in could only produce valuable and useful results.
 
DOE dispatched three of its top remediation consultants to talk with our team, including Dr. Tom Ward and two other DOE consultants who were actively involved in the development and testing of other protocols at Los Alamos and Sandia Laboratories. We believed, based on the kinds of responses we continued to receive from Dr. Goldner and his staff at DOE that the NRT technologies not only qualified for funding support but that we would be contracted by DOE-affiliated laboratories at MIT and other prestigious universities to jointly develop and deploy successive iterations of the HDCC treatment devices in beta tests related to five different industrial applications.
 
We prepared and filed a patent application which explained the proprietary features of the NRT HDCC-based radioactive remediation and treatment system. As a team, we had dedicated nearly 50 man-years over nearly a decade to develop and mature the technology. By the time the fateful call from Frank Goldner came in November of 2003 we were convinced that NRT was well on its way to becoming a global player. On a stormy afternoon in mid-November, my phone rang. Dick Shamp was on the line. He sounded breathless, as if he had been running up and down the stairs. He told me he had Frank Goldner on the phone and wanted to conference me in, so I told him to go ahead. The instant Dr. Goldner came on the line, he began screaming. Literally. He was yelling so loud that I had to put the receiver a foot away from my head to avoid damaging my ear. At first I was just astonished. I had never been spoken to in that tone of voice by anyone in my life so it took me a few seconds to recover my composure.
 
During his diatribe, Goldner accused us of all sorts of things, including impermissibly bombarding Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s office with an endless stream of unnecessary, unwanted, useless correspondence. He had been specifically instructed by Mr. Abraham, he said, to put a stop to our correspondence. He told us that the Secretary did not want our correspondence on file and demanded that we stop sending it to him. Somewhere in the middle of his screaming I screamed back. After I had managed to put a stop to his tirade, I got his undivided attention by telling Dr. Goldner that I had turned on my tape recorder and intended to send a copy of the tape to Secretary Abraham if he didn’t shut up.
 
What followed was one of the most astonishing conversations I have ever participated in in my life. We had done everything asked of us by Goldner and his minions at DOE. We had submitted all the documents, made all the disclosures, cooperated with all their consultants and demonstrated that the NRT system was both viable and effective. Goldner informed us that notwithstanding all that, the Department’s policy called for the encapsulation and burial of high level radioactive nuclear waste under Yucca Mountain. No other technology, no other means of remediation, no other alternative would be permitted to impinge on the Department’s policy, under any circumstances. We were ordered forthwith to cease and desist sending any further correspondence to DOE, at any level, for any reason, under any circumstances, related to our treatment system. Further, we were informed that NRT would be denied permission to obtain samples of any radioactive materials under any circumstances, whether for further testing and evaluation or any other purposes. In short, we were told that the United States government and the agency charged with protecting the welfare of its citizens had decided to specifically prohibit the implementation of a technology that had been demonstrated to solve the problem of radioactive emissions generated by high level spent nuclear fuel wastes.
 
We were understandably enraged by both the decision and the way the message had been delivered. Over the next two years Dick and I complained to several of our White House contacts, as well as dozens of senators and congressmen. We wrote and published op-ed pieces in a number of newspapers. We attempted to contact the DOE consultants we had been working with to see if we could figure what had gone wrong. Once the door had been shut at DOE, all our access to pertinent research information produced by government-sponsored laboratories immediately ceased. People we had worked with for years refused to take our calls. For reasons that have since become crystal clear, but which at the time remained a total mystery to us, the solution we had created was summarily booted off the playing field.
 
Since that time, it has become clear that we made a number of serious tactical mistakes. The first and most important was the mistake of presumption. We assumed, because it seemed so patently obvious and logical at the time, that if radioactive emissions was such a terrible global problem, and if we could develop an effective solution, we would have contributed something meaningful, useful and important to the process. What we have since learned is that we could not have been more mistaken. The line at the food trough leading from DOE to Yucca Mountain is $12 - $15 billion a year long. The high temperature gas cooled nuclear fission university-based research establishment consumes another $8 - $10 billion each year from DOE and its affiliated agencies. The ancillary research and consulting services related to the actual design, engineering, construction, and operation of the Yucca Mountain implementation plan accounts for another $10 billion a year more.
 
Everyone in the food chain who relies on DOE funding stands to be disenfranchised if someone outside the system actually figures out how to solve the problem. In this case, as in others we have tackled over the years, the problem set constitutes such a rich target for exploitation that no one who has a position at the trough really wants it resolved at all. I was genuinely astonished when it finally dawned on me that we would have been just as effective if we had painted a big red target on our foreheads and stood naked in the middle of going-home traffic on the DC beltway. Not only did we not fix the problem, we blew the cover of everyone in the private sector who had ever been involved in the process with us for more than 10 years. I guess I can take some comfort in the knowledge that I wasn’t alone in my naïveté, but it hardly gives comfort to the prospect posed by the EEU’s recent decision to build 85 new fission-based nuclear power plants over the next two decades.
 
Second, in order to move our own agendas forward, we voluntarily disclosed absolutely everything there was to know about who was involved, what we were doing, how we were doing it, how it worked, and why. The DOE and its counterparts in other undisclosed agencies of government who have been tasked with derailing our research don’t have to lift a finger to find out who or where we are. We are now totally naked after having been stripped to our financial shorts and washed repeatedly with a torrent of DOE sanitizers. We cannot hide any longer and therefore can never be safe even if we decide to take this technology elsewhere for development. The results we produced could hardly have been less effective...