Black technology starts from the steel suit

Chapter 215 Disposal of spent fuel (change tomorrow)

2 Disposal of spent fuel
Jingle Bell!
Jingle Bell!
"Hey, what's the matter?"

"Professor, are you busy now?"

"What's the matter?" Wang Feng squinted his eyes, and then looked at his watch. It was 6:00 in the morning. He didn't expect that at this point, they had already started working. Did he put too much pressure on them?
"It's like this. When we measured the half-life, we discovered something."

"What's going on?" Wang Feng seemed a little depressed when he heard the voice over there. Could it be that something went wrong?

"Professor, the content of cobalt-60 we measured today seems to be a little less than before."

"If there's a little less, wouldn't it be over if you put in more?" Wang Feng was still a little confused.

"It's not that this is less. The amount of this test is still 1mg, but after the test, when we measured again, we found that it was less than the original amount."

"What do you mean?"

"Not necessarily. It's also possible that our equipment is not accurate enough. We are currently transferring equipment from other laboratory buildings. I believe the results will be available soon." Although he said this, he still couldn't hide the meaning behind his words. Excited.

"Wait a minute, I'll be there right away." Hearing this, Wang Feng didn't say he was going back to sleep, but got up in a hurry, although he said that after the second batch of equipment arrived, the test results came out before going there. the same.

But at this exciting moment, as the boss of a research institute, Wang Feng, it is impossible to be absent at this time.After all, he has failed more than 100 times, and this is the first time he has experienced so many failures, which is really unbelievable.

This shows from the side how difficult it is to make some achievements in the field of theoretical physics.Of course, part of the reason is that Wang Feng's research time is still short, and he is full of plans.I have devoted myself to theoretical physics for less than a year.

"How's the measurement result?" Wang Feng rushed in, and because of the heavy weight of the protective clothing, he almost fell down.

"The equipment has just arrived and the measurement is in progress. Professor, don't worry." Feng Yuxiu introduced, he is a top student in the Department of Physics who was exchanged from Yenching University, returned after his PhD in Princeton, and is a joint training student.

Wang Feng doesn't have any feelings about his employees switching jobs to become university lecturers. After all, everyone has their own choice.

Although Wang Feng gave him the opportunity to meet the other party's requirements for the paper, they also worked hard. After all, the work intensity was comparable to that in the IT industry. This is what they deserve.

"Professor, have you had breakfast?"

"Don't worry about this, you can eat it later."

"Professor, you can eat a little. The meat buns in the cafeteria taste very good today. The beef is all the big chunks. It tastes really good!"

"OK then!"

……

"It's coming soon, it's coming soon!"

"There is no mistake in the instrument, professor, come and check it. The instrument is correct. The amount of cobalt-60 has really decreased, and it has decreased a lot. The radiation on the container is also much larger than before. !"

"Success, we succeeded!"

By this time, the experimenters could no longer conceal their inner excitement and couldn't help shouting loudly! Probably only they themselves know what kind of hard-to-be-achieved thing they have accomplished!

"Professor, our theory is correct, and our model is not wrong, but it still needs some improvement!"

"We were right, our persistence was not in vain!"

"Wait, wait, I think it's better to try again, what if there is a mistake in the operation?"

"It makes sense, I'll test it again!"

1mg of cobalt-60 was tested by them over and over again, and a small radioactive container was also tested by them several times on the instrument. It was obviously only a very common medical radioactive element, but at this moment it became extremely strange. generally.

In fact, this kind of radioactive element is very common in life, such as this time to fight against floods and disasters, and to fight against the epidemic...

The protective clothing packaged in the box does not need to be unpacked, and it takes only one day to complete the sterilization, which is at least 1 times more efficient than conventional sterilization methods, and because it is fully airtight, it can reduce the risk of human error Loss.It also prevents the virus carried by the human body from staying on the protective clothing, which greatly improves the safety.

How is this done?

Very simple, this is the use of artificial radioactive elements, which is a radioactive element produced by the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant - cobalt 60!

At present, Qinshan Nuclear Power Base, the largest nuclear power base in my country, has fully resumed work.In addition to ensuring energy supply, as the only cobalt source production site in the country, the cobalt source produced by continuous irradiation of its heavy water reactor is being used for irradiation sterilization of medical materials in various places.Up to now, Cobalt Source has provided radiation sterilization services for medical disposable protective clothing for dozens of units across the country.It took only 6 hours for tens of thousands of disposable medical protective clothing from the time of arrival and unloading to the completion of sterilization and ready to go.

Why is the sterilization efficiency of cobalt so high?
The radioactive elements we often talk about are poisonous and highly toxic, so where is this toxicity?
This is the color-changing radiation we are talking about!
No matter what kind of radiation it is, as long as it comes into contact with the body of a living thing, whether it touches the skin or is eaten by mistake, it will cause irreversible damage to its structure, such as the gene chain.

The cobalt source is irradiated and sterilized by gamma rays. Yes, it is the one that produces the fat green man after Dr. Banner is irradiated. However, gamma rays also have different levels of energy. It is the high-energy gamma rays that can produce the fat green man. , and for sterilization, it is low-energy gamma rays.

The 'lethality' of radiation sterilization can be much greater than traditional sterilization methods such as chemical sterilization and high temperature sterilization.Cobalt 60 has strong penetrability, and radiation sterilization is more thorough. Because of its high power, it can be sterilized when the packaging is intact, and the sterilized product can be stored for a long time. "In fact, it is similar to taking X-rays, but the dosage is more strictly controlled.

Moreover, because the energy of cobalt-60 rays in the gamma ray family is very low, around 1.3 Mev, relevant research results show that the induced radioactivity produced by energies below 16 Mev can be ignored.Therefore, the chemical and physical properties of the article will not change after irradiation sterilization, so it can be used with confidence.

In fact, before being used to sterilize protective clothing this time, the irradiation sterilization method of industrial cobalt sources has been widely used in pet food, cooked food, medical gloves, sample collectors, blood collection devices and other products.

Of course, this does not mean that it is absolutely safe, it is very strict in use, and under such strict rules and regulations, it can be guaranteed to be safe to use.But if there are other circumstances, it will be discussed separately.

On November 1992, 11, Zhang, a farmer in XZ City, SX Province, was working at the construction site of the dormitory of the XZ Environmental Testing Station. He picked up a small shiny object and put it in his coat pocket. A few hours later, it appeared Nausea, vomiting and other symptoms.

Ten days later, he died for no apparent reason.A few days later, the father and younger brother who took care of him during his illness also got the same "disease" and died one after another, and his wife was also seriously ill.

After investigation by medical workers, the real cause was found. That shiny little thing was discarded cobalt 60, and its radioactive intensity was as high as 10*3.7x1010 Baker!

Cobalt-60 has strong radiation, can cause hair loss, can seriously damage the cell tissue in human blood, cause leukopenia, cause blood system diseases, such as aplastic anemia, and seriously cause leukemia (blood cancer) ),even death.

It can be seen that it is the strict rules and regulations and usage specifications that can ensure its safety, not the item itself.He is indeed harmful to a certain extent, but as long as we can ensure his use regulations, then his safety can be guaranteed.

Although it looks dangerous and harmful, it has many uses.

Cobalt-60 radioactive sources are widely used in almost all walks of life. In agriculture, they are often used in radiation breeding, stimulation of production, radiation control of insect pests, and food irradiation preservation and preservation; in industry, they are often used in non-destructive testing, radiation Disinfection, radiation processing, radiation treatment waste, as well as thickness, density, level measurement and online automatic control, etc.; in medicine, it is often used in cancer and tumor radiation therapy.

Industrial cobalt sources are used in articles, but medical cobalt sources are directly used in the human body. The dose control needs to be more refined, and the requirements for technology are also higher. "Fan Shen said that at present, medical cobalt source treatment equipment is also called gamma knife. Each gamma knife is equipped with multiple radioactive sources, and the activity of each radioactive source needs to be precisely controlled. The difficulty of development.

Gamma Knife equipment is mainly used in tumor treatment, with the advantages of precise positioning, no trauma, no anesthesia, and no surgery.The core component of the Gamma Knife is a high specific activity cobalt-60 radioactive source. This type of cobalt source has been dependent on imports for a long time. Due to the shortage of cobalt source supply, it has seriously restricted the development of the industry.Localization of medical cobalt sources is imminent.

Just like high-precision medical equipment, we have also gone through a process of starting from scratch when it comes to cobalt sources.

Cobalt 60 is an isotope of cobalt element. Cobalt 60 radioactive sources are widely used in agriculture, industry, medicine, etc., especially the production of medical cobalt 60 has important social significance and economic benefits.However, for a long time in the past, my country's cobalt source supply has been dependent on imports, and independent production is a major problem that plagues Chinese scientists.

In the entire research and development process of medical cobalt sources, the design of cobalt targets is undoubtedly the most troublesome link for researchers.

Therefore, the design of medical cobalt source targets needs to take into account the analysis and calculation capabilities of domestic design institutes, the manufacturing capabilities of manufacturing plants, and the needs of gamma knife companies. It is also necessary to ensure that they will not affect the safe and stable operation of the reactor after they are put into the reactor. Twists and turns, there is a saying that it is better to buy than to build, and it is better to rent than to buy. In fact, there is no big problem with what it says.

It is too difficult to truly rely on independent research and development.Moreover, the things you independently develop may not be used by others. After all, what is the most important thing in medicine?The most important thing is reliability.And the thing you just researched is compared with the products that others have made for decades.The reliability is definitely not as good as others.

However, it is gratifying that in 2016, the "Research on Industrialized Production Technology of Medical Cobalt-60 Radioactive Source" project was listed as the "Longteng 2020" scientific and technological innovation plan project of China National Nuclear Corporation.

In the end, after Qinshan Nuclear Power and China Tongfu, CNNC North, CNNC Qualcomm, Shanghai Institute of Nuclear Engineering and other units jointly researched key problems, on April 2019, 4, the first medical cobalt target in China was finally irradiated in Qinshan Nuclear Power Heavy Water Unit No. 1 was successfully discharged from the reactor.

This marks that my country has successfully mastered the production technology of medical cobalt-60 radioactive sources through independent research and development, breaking the situation of relying entirely on foreign imports of high-specific-activity medical cobalt-60 radioactive sources. Gamma knives can finally be equipped with "Chinese cores."

In January 2020, Qinshan Nuclear Power Science and Technology Project "Medical Cobalt Source Production Technology Research and Development Project" was also selected as one of the "Top Ten Innovations of 1" by central enterprises together with major innovation projects such as 5G commercialization, delivery of the first domestic aircraft carrier, and Chang'e-2019 moon landing. project.

From the above, we can see how important artificial radioactive elements are in the field of modern industry and science and technology. In the future, it may not necessarily be a pillar industry.

……

Cobalt 60 artificial radioactive element is indeed very important, and it is a bright pearl in the history of my country's nuclear industry.But compared with today's achievements, he can only be reduced to a foil.

What would it mean if we could speed up the decay of radioactive elements?

First of all, regardless of whether it is controllable or not, as long as it can truly accelerate the decay of radioactive elements, it means that our bottleneck in nuclear energy development will completely disappear.

There are many factors restricting the development of nuclear energy, and one of the most important ones is safety and pollution.Needless to say, safety issues, if an accident occurs in a nuclear power plant, although it will not explode, it will cause serious radioactive pollution.The main source of these radioactive contamination is spent fuel after nuclear fuel combustion.

On the contrary, it is mainly composed of various radioactive elements that are difficult to handle. The half-life of these radioactive elements may even be as long as tens of thousands of years, which means that these things will continuously release serious radiation for tens of thousands of years. .

How to dispose of these spent fuels has become a very headache for governments of all countries. The most critical factor is that the decay rate of radioactive elements cannot be affected. Otherwise, if we can dispose of these spent fuels in time, instead of Bury them deeply into the ground, and the factors that restrict the development of nuclear energy will be much less.

With the development of nuclear energy to the present, what restricts him more is not a technical problem, but a problem of people's impression of him.In people's minds, nuclear energy is a representative of poisonous and harmful.If this impression does not change, it will be difficult for us to vigorously develop nuclear energy.

Even if it is the fourth-generation nuclear reactor technology, it is the same after the public relations are completed. What people worry about is not that the uranium ore is used up, but about its radiation problem.

(End of this chapter)