No abstract available

No abstract available

[en] This research and development project is focused on the advancement of a technology that produces hydrogen at a cost that is competitive with fossil-based fuels for transportation. A twostep, solar-driven WS thermochemical cycle is theoretically capable of achieving an STH conversion ratio that exceeds the DOE target of 26% at a scale large enough to support an industrialized economy [1]. The challenge is to transition this technology from the laboratory to the marketplace and produce hydrogen at a cost that meets or exceeds DOE targets.

[en] The core power levels of 600, 1,200 and 1,800 MWe were investigated with a TRU conversion ratio of about 0.6 in previous study. Even at each pre-determined power level, the performance parameters, reactivity coefficients and their implications on the safety analysis can be different when a target TRU conversion ratio changes. In order to address this aspect of a design, a variation study of a TRU conversion ratio change with core power levels is performed in this study and the core performance is investigated at various core powers

[en] This work concerns to the determination of the conversion-rate for a PWR reactor with an enrichment of 7.47%, considering a cell, geometrically equal to Angra I, composed by Thorium and U-238 in a 1:1 relation. The study was performed considering neutrons of one and two groups of energy, according to the suggestion from other authors sup(1,2). It was also performed a study about the production and consumption of fissile material. (author)

[en] This paper is concerned with the use of thorium as a fuel in the existing CANDU concept. The neutron balance of the reactor core is analyzed and an assessment is made of the potential for development of a thermal 'breeder' reactor system. It is concluded that while the SSET cycle (i.e. self-sufficient equilibrium thorium cycle) appears feasible, there is little potential for developing a significant 'breeding' fuel cycle if current reactor operating capability and capital costs are to be maintained. (author)

[en] In this letter, we report a full-metallic broadband wave plate assembled by standing metallic L-shaped stereostructures (LSSs). We show that with an array of LSSs, high polarization conversion ratio is achieved within a broad frequency band. Moreover, by rotating the orientation of the array of LSSs, the electric components of the reflection beam in two orthogonal directions and their phase difference can be independently tuned. In this way, all the polarization states on the Poincaré sphere can be realized. As examples, the functionalities of a quarter wave plate and a half wave plate are experimentally demonstrated with both reflection spectra and focal-plane-array imaging. Our designing provides a unique approach in realizing the broadband wave plate to manipulate the polarization state of light

[en] Single-layered metasurfaces are easier to fabricate than multi-layered ones but suffering from low efficiency and/or narrow bandwidth for transmissive polarization rotation. In this work, we propose a single-layered metasurface which can realize 90° polarization rotation with high efficiency, wide bandwidth, and ultra-high polarization conversion ratio in transmission mode. In addition, the single-layered metasurface can also be used as an efficient and wideband polarizer, which couples the two orthogonal electric components of incident light to the transmitted polarization. (paper)

[en] A technique for determination of the disintegration rate of ¹⁰³Rh^m in thick foils is described. In addition values for the following parameters were determined: - total internal conversion coefficient α = 1531 ± 30; - K shell internal conversion coefficient α_K = 127 ± 6; - conversion ratio R= K/L+M+..... = 0.0914 ± 0.0043. (author)

[en] The main goal of the Advanced High Converter Water Reactor is to increase the conversion ratio. Amelioration of the conversion ratio is only economically reasonable when the specific construction costs of conventional LWR plants remain almost unchanged, i.e., when the major system equipment does not become more complicated and more expensive. Having such boundary conditions in mind, this paper deals with the first neutronics features of the high converter boiling water reactor. The results shows that the physics of this type of reactor is promising. (author)