Transmutation Strategy Research Articles

Skeletal Editing through Single-Atom Insertion and Transmutation: An Insight into a New Era of Synthetic Organic Chemistry

AbstractConsidering the importance of heterocycles, significantly represented in medicinal chemistry and drug development, the single-atom insertion technique and transmutation strategy provide productive approaches towards complicated molecular structures through heterocycle diversification. It shows a potentially powerful approach for modifying complex substrates concisely and chemospecifically. Although skeletal editing applies to cyclic and acyclic compounds, this review focuses on the diversification of carbo- and heterocyclic compounds for synthesizing various medicinally important molecules via the single-atom insertion technique. The classification system is based on recent and critical historical methods of single-atom insertion as applied to the transmutation of aromatic rings.1 Introduction2 Skeletal Editing through Carbon-Atom Insertion2.1 Skeletal Editing of Indoles and Pyrroles Derivatives: Carbon-Atom Insertion into a C=C Bond2.2 Skeletal Editing of Pyrazole and Indazole Derivatives: Carbon-Atom Insertion into an N–N Bond2.3 Skeletal Editing of Pyrazole and Indazole Derivatives: Insertion of CF3 Group into Heteroarenes2.4 Skeletal Editing of Imidazole Derivatives: Carbon-Atom Insertion into C–N Bond2.5 Skeletal Editing through Atom-to-Atom Transmutation3 Skeletal Editing through N-Atom Insertion3.1 Nitrogen-Atom Insertion into Carbocycles3.2 Nitrogen-Atom Insertion into Heterocycles3.3 Carbon to Nitrogen Transmutation3.3 Molecular Editing through Isotopic Transmutation4 Conclusion

Structure-activity relationship approach toward the improved separation of actinides(III) over lanthanides(III) using amine-triamide ligands

The efficient separation of trivalent actinides over lanthanides is a major challenge for the partitioning and transmutation (P&T) strategy in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing due to their very similar properties. In this context, the present work reports three amine-triamide NTAamides (nitrilotriacetamides), to investigate the influence of ligand structure on the extraction of Am3+ over Eu3+. Among the three ligands, N,N-diethyl-N′,N′,N″,N″-tetraoctylnitrilotriacetamide shows higher extraction ability for Am3+ compared with that of N,N-dibutyl-N′,N′,N″,N″-tetraoctylnitrilotriacetamide and N,N,N′,N′,N″,N″-hexaoctylnitrilotriacetamide (NTAamide(n-Oct)) in the examined acid range of 0.01–0.50 mol/L HNO3. The structure–activity relationship study reveals that the two unsymmetrical NTAamides with varying alkyl substituted groups have higher extraction efficiency to Am3+ and relatively lower selectivity for Am3+ over Eu3+ than the symmetrical NTAamide(n-Oct) due to the steric hindrance effect. The complexation study by means of slope analysis, ESI-MS, and UV–vis titration suggests the formation of 1:2 metal/NTAamide extracted species. Meanwhile, the NTAamide is identified as a tetradentate ligand by FT-IR and XPS analyses. Furthermore, the analysis of Raman and TRLFS indicates that the NO3− and the H2O molecule do not participate in the inner coordination sphere of Eu3+. By combining the results of solvent extraction and complexation, a neutral complexation extraction model is proposed. Additionally, the stability constants (logβ) and thermodynamic parameters (ΔH, ΔS, and ΔG) regarding the complexation of Eu3+ with NTAamides are also presented.

Simple, Fast, and Selective Dissolution of Eu2O3 in an Ionic Liquid as a Sustainable Paradigm for Lanthanide-Actinide Separations in Radioactive Waste Remediation.

The liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) process for lanthanide-actinide separation from the nuclear fuel cycle has several drawbacks such as, the requirement of cooling for decay heat control, the handling of large volumes of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and secondary waste generation. Alternatively reprocessing without spent fuel cooling is done by pyroprocessing, which uses high-temperature corrosive molten salts and requires elevated temperature, and is an energy-intensive process. In recent years, some of the shortcomings of both LLE and pyroprocessing are overcome by the use of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as the solvents. In the present work, an attempt was made to exploit the potential of the neoteric, less-corrosive, low-VOC RTILs toward direct dissolution-based separations at ambient conditions. The present paper involves the selective dissolution of Eu2O3 in an RTIL, i.e., C4mim·NTf2 containing 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA) within ca. 30 min at ambient conditions; while the dissolution of AmO2 and UO2 were found to be very poor, making this an attractive method for lanthanide-actinide separation, a key step in radioactive waste management, i.e., an actinide partitioning and transmutation strategy. The quantitative dissolution of Eu2O3 from simulated spent nuclear fuel with different Eu2O3 loading was also shown. Water plays a crucial role in deciding the kinetics of dissolution and amount of the dissolved oxide. The combination of X-ray absorption, fluorescence, and UV-vis spectroscopic studies suggested the formation of the dehydrated anionic complex Ln(TTA)4- to play pivotal role in the oxide dissolution process. The structure of the complex was analyzed by density functional theory and extended X-ray absorption fine structure. The mechanism of oxide dissolution was proposed and electrochemical studies were performed to understand the possible recovery option using electrodeposition of the dissolved Eu3+.

Constrained but not contained: How marginalized entrepreneurs overcome institutional bias and mobilize resources

AbstractResearch SummaryIn this study, we advance novel understandings of strategies that marginalized entrepreneurs use to overcome institutional bias and mobilize crucial resources. Using grounded theory, we analyzed qualitative interview data from 97 women entrepreneurs across Iran, India, and the United States to understand the source and nature of the institutional constraints they faced, the strategies they used to overcome these constraints, and the agency and legitimacy that ensued as a result. We found that marginalized entrepreneurs engaged in three focal strategies: family transmutation, ally activation, and enabler cooptation. We propose that these strategies enhance marginalized entrepreneurs' likelihood of securing needed resources, but with different consequences for their agency and legitimacy. We offer several contributions to entrepreneurial resource mobilization and institutional literatures.Managerial SummaryThis study explores how marginalized entrepreneurs gain agency, legitimacy, and other resources in the face of institutional biases. Our findings from interviews with 97 women entrepreneurs in Iran, India, and the United States show that when marginalized entrepreneurs face biases from their families, they can use a family transmutation strategy to gain family support and enhance their agency and legitimacy. Furthermore, marginalized entrepreneurs who encounter constraints from non‐family members can use an ally activation strategy to alleviate these constraints and enhance their agency and legitimacy. Finally, we found that in the face of self‐constraints that marginalized entrepreneurs impose on themselves, the use of an enabler cooptation strategy may have an adverse effect on their agency and legitimacy, even though it may facilitate their temporary resource access.

New strategies for a sustainable 99mTc supply to meet increasing medical demands: Promising solutions for current problems.

The continuing rapid expansion of 99mTc diagnostic agents always calls for scaling up 99mTc production to cover increasing clinical demand. Nevertheless, 99mTc availability depends mainly on the fission-produced 99Mo supply. This supply is seriously influenced during renewed emergency periods, such as the past 99Mo production crisis or the current COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, these interruptions have promoted the need for 99mTc production through alternative strategies capable of providing clinical-grade 99mTc with high purity. In the light of this context, this review illustrates diverse production routes that either have commercially been used or new strategies that offer potential solutions to promote a rapid production growth of 99mTc. These techniques have been selected, highlighted, and evaluated to imply their impact on developing 99mTc production. Furthermore, their advantages and limitations, current situation, and long-term perspective were also discussed. It appears that, on the one hand, careful attention needs to be devoted to enhancing the 99Mo economy. It can be achieved by utilizing 98Mo neutron activation in commercial nuclear power reactors and using accelerator-based 99Mo production, especially the photonuclear transmutation strategy. On the other hand, more research efforts should be devoted to widening the utility of 99Mo/99mTc generators, which incorporate nanomaterial-based sorbents and promote their development, validation, and full automization in the near future. These strategies are expected to play a vital role in providing sufficient clinical-grade 99mTc, resulting in a reasonable cost per patient dose.

Partitioning and transmutation strategy R&D for nuclear spent fuel: the SACSESS and GENIORS projects

Processes such as PUREX allow the recovery and reuse of the uranium and the plutonium of GEN II/GEN III reactors and are being adapted for the recycling of the uranium and the plutonium of GEN IV MOX fuels. However, it does not fix the sensitive issue of the long-term management of the high active nuclear waste (HAW). Indeed, only the recovery and the transmutation of the minor actinides can reduce this burden down to a few hundreds of years. In this context, and in the continuity of the FP7 EURATOM SACSESS project, GENIORS focuses on the reprocessing of MOX fuel containing minor actinides, taking into account safety issues under normal and mal-operation. By implementing a three-step approach (reinforcement of the scientific knowledge => process development and testing => system studies, safety and integration), GENIORS will provide more science-based strategies for nuclear fuel management in the EU.

Complexation of trivalent lanthanides and actinides with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid: Theoretical unraveling of bond covalency

Separation of trivalent actinides (An(III)) and lanthanides (Ln(III)) is a pivotal step with respect to the treatment of nuclear waste based on the partitioning and transmutation (P&T) strategy, which is also extraordinarily challenging due to their similar coordination chemistry. The diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (DTPA) ligand has been demonstrated to possess selective separation ability toward An(III) over Ln(III) in aqueous media. Nevertheless, the extracted complexes of An(III)/Ln(III) with DTPA, and the origin of selectivity for An(III) are still not well deciphered. In this work, from theoretical perspective and at the molecular level, the geometrical structures, bonding nature as well as thermodynamic behaviors of possible complexes of An(III) (An = Am, Cm, Cf) and Ln(III) (Ln = Nd, Eu) with DTPA in the aqueous phase have been systematically studied using scalar relativistic density functional theory (DFT). All bonding analyses indicate that the metal-ligand bonds possess weak but non-negligible covalent interactions, and An(III)-DTPA species demonstrate more covalency compared to Ln(III) analogues. In addition, the covalency of the metal-ligand bonding of An(III)-DTPA increases across the actinide series from Am to Cf, which stems from the increased orbital degeneracy of the 5f orbitals of actinides and the 2p orbitals of the ligands. According to thermodynamic analysis, the anhydrous species [Cf(HDTPA)]− is the most likely species for Cf(III) in acidic solution, whereas [M(HDTPA)(H2O)]− are more favorable for Am(III) and Cm(III), probably due to the different bonding nature of the transplutonium series. This work affords new theoretical insights into the coordination chemistry of An(III)/Ln(III)-DTPA complexes, and paves the way to further design efficient DTPA-based ligands for An(III)/Ln(III) separation. Moreover, the DTPA ligand may also be applied for in-group separation of trivalent actinides, which is quite meaningful for the extraction of Cf(III).

A Mathematical Model of Reduction Potentials of Lanthanide Alloys Correlation with Atomic Radius and Electronegativity Based on the Hume-Rothery Rules

To achieve closed nuclear fuel cycle and sustainable development of nuclear energy, efficient pyroprocessing of spent fuel becomes one of the major concerns in Generation IV nuclear energy [1]. Molten salt based electrolysis is a promising method in future pyroprocessing technology. As neutron poison, lanthanides are the typical detrimental elements that encumber the realization of the so-called partitioning & transmutation (P&T) strategy, and thus must be separated from actinides [2]. Therefore, investigating the electrochemical properties of actinides and lanthanides is of pivotal importance. In fact, in light of the chemical similarity of trivalent actinides and lanthanides, the chemistry of actinides can be revealed somewhat through exploring the lanthanide elements which are more readily obtained [3, 4]. In this work, it was found that the reduction potentials of Cu(Ni, Al, Zn)-rich Cu(Ni, Al, Zn)-Ln alloys manifest an evident “Bimodal Effect”. Hume-Rothery rules pointed out that the main factors affecting the formation of alloy solid solution of two metal elements are: 1) the difference of the atomic radius of the solvent and the solute metals, and 2) the electronegativity difference between the solvent and the solute metals. By fitting the data of reduction potentials, differences of the atomic radii and electronegativity differences, a formula was built up, which provides a useful and reliable approach for predicting related important reduction potentials of actinide alloys. The result of multiple linear regression analysis (Fig. 1) indicated that the good reliability of forecast and goodness of fit. Acknowledgments This paper is funded by the International Exchange Program of Harbin Engineering University for Innovation-oriented Talents Cultivation.

Application of the Pyrochemical DOS, Developed by the CEA, within Reprocessing of CERCER Transmutation Fuel Targets

Pyrochemical technology using high-temperature molten salts and molten metal media presents a potential interest for an overall separation and transmutation strategy for long-lived radionuclides. Within the frame of the two French acts on radioactive waste management, a pyrochemical R&D program was launched at the CEA Marcoule in the late 90's. The second step is the actinides back-extraction, which consists in a liquid/liquid oxidative stripping of the An from aluminium matrix into molten chloride media. The DOS process has been successfully demonstrated for treatment of oxide type fuels within the last years: the core of the process has been already assessed and the studies have shown high selectivity and a quantitative recovery of actinides.Within the framework of the SACSESS European research program, the pyrochemical activities focused on applications of the DOS process to reprocess CERCER transmutation targets. These particular type of fuels consist of a mixture of minor actinides (MA) oxides diluted in an inert (oxide MgO) matrices. The behaviour of matrices material was first investigated regarding the solubility in the fluoride salt, starting from both oxide powders or sintered pellets. Further investigations focused on the reductive extraction behaviour of Mg in metallic Al. The impact of Mg on the efficiency of An reductive extraction was also studied using uranium simulating the behaviour of MA oxides.

Comparative XRPD and XAS study of the impact of the synthesis process on the electronic and structural environments of uranium–americium mixed oxides

Uranium–americium mixed oxides are potential compounds to reduce americium inventory in nuclear waste via a partitioning and transmutation strategy. A thorough assessment of the oxygen-to-metal ratio is paramount in such materials as it determines the important underlying electronic structure and phase relations, affecting both thermal conductivity of the material and its interaction with the cladding and coolant. In 2011, various XAS experiments on U1−xAmxO2±δ samples prepared by different synthesis methods have reported contradictory results on the charge distribution of U and Am. This work alleviates this discrepancy. The XAS results confirm that, independently of the synthesis process, the reductive sintering of U1−xAmxO2±δ leads to the formation of similar fluorite solid solution indicating the presence of Am+III and U+V in equimolar proportions.

Sustainability of the Chinese nuclear expansion: Natural uranium resources availability, Pu cycle, fuel utilization efficiency and spent fuel management

The civil nuclear energy deployment in China is important for future “Nuclear Renaissance” of China and worldwide. Compared to the other nations that developed their nuclear power energy system in last century, China can take advantage of the research and mistakes made by those states in relation to the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle (NFC). The spent fuel accumulated by decades of operations of civil nuclear power is today a big burden for the industry. China must carefully plan the NFC for a sustainable development of the nuclear energy with special consideration to close the fuel cycle. The present paper addresses the NFC options and implications of a LWR scenario development and of a fast reactor park developed after 2035 and 2050, and covers the historical development of nuclear energy in China (i.e. from the first criticality of the first reactor) to the year 2100. The paper studies the partition and transmutation strategy with the use of accelerator driven system (ADS) to burn the minor actinides (MA) to understand the ADS impact on the NFC and to estimate the number and the necessary deploying schedule of the ADS reactors to limit the minor actinides stock build up. The other aspects taken into consideration for the comparison of the different scenarios are the natural uranium resourced used, the efficiency of fuel utilization, the proliferation and diversion risks associated to each scenario and the overall spent fuel production and flow. The code INFCIS developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is used in the present study.

Sustainability of the Chinese nuclear expansion: The role of ADS to close the nuclear fuel cycle

The civil nuclear energy deployment in China is important for future “Nuclear Renaissance” of China and worldwide. Compared to the other nations that developed their nuclear power energy system in last century, China can take advantage of the research and mistakes made by those states with regards to the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle (NFC). The spent fuel accumulated by decades of operations of civil nuclear power is today a big burden for the nuclear industry. China must carefully plan the NFC for a sustainable development of the nuclear energy with special consideration to closing the fuel cycle. The present paper addresses the NFC option and implication of a LWR reactors scenario development and of a fast reactor park developed after 2035 and 2050, and covers the historical development of nuclear energy in China (i.e. from the first criticality of the first reactor) to the year 2100. The paper studies the partition and transmutation strategy with the use of accelerator driven system (ADS) to burn the MA to understand the ADS impact on the NFC and to estimate the number and the necessary deploying schedule of the ADS reactors to limit the minor actinides stock build up. The code INFCIS developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is used in the present study.

Sensitivity analysis of minor actinides transmutation to physical and technological parameters

Minor actinides transmutation is one of the three main axis defined by the 2006 French law for management of nuclear waste, along with long-term storage and use of a deep geological repository. Transmutation options for critical systems can be divided in two different approaches: (a) homogeneous transmutation, in which minor actinides are mixed with the fuel. This exhibits the drawback of “polluting” the entire fuel cycle with minor actinides and also has an important impact on core reactivity coefficients such as Doppler Effect or sodium void worth for fast reactors when the minor actinides fraction increases above 3 to 5% depending on the core; (b) heterogeneous transmutation, in which minor actinides are inserted into transmutation targets which can be located in the center or in the periphery of the core. This presents the advantage of decoupling the management of the minor actinides from the conventional fuel and not impacting the core reactivity coefficients. In both cases, the design and analyses of potential transmutation systems have been carried out in the frame of Gen IV fast reactor using a “perturbation” approach in which nominal power reactor parameters are modified to accommodate the loading of minor actinides. However, when designing such a transmutation strategy, parameters from all steps of the fuel cycle must be taken into account, such as spent fuel heat load, gamma or neutron sources or fabrication feasibility. Considering a multi-recycling strategy of minor actinides, an analysis of relevant estimators necessary to fully analyze a transmutation strategy has been performed in this work and a sensitivity analysis of these estimators to a broad choice of reactors and fuel cycle parameters has been carried out. No threshold or percolation effects were observed. Saturation of transmutation rate with regards to several parameters has been observed, namely the minor actinides volume fraction and the irradiation time. Estimators of interest that have been derived from this approach include the maximum neutron source and decay heat load acceptable at reprocessing and fabrication steps, which influence among other things the total minor actinides inventory, the overall complexity of the cycle and the size of the geological repository. Based on this analysis, a new methodology to assess transmutation strategies is proposed.

Development of a test system for high level liquid waste partitioning

The partitioning and transmutation strategy has increasingly attracted interest for the safe treatment and disposal of high level liquid waste, in which the partitioning of high level liquid waste is one of the critical technical issues. An improved total partitioning process, including a tri-alkylphosphine oxide process for the removal of actinides, a crown ether strontium extraction process for the removal of strontium, and a calixcrown ether cesium extraction process for the removal of cesium, has been developed to treat Chinese high level liquid waste. A test system containing 72-stage 10-mm-diam annular centrifugal contactors, a remote sampling system, a rotor speed acquisition-monitoring system, a feeding system, and a video camera-surveillance system was successfully developed to carry out the hot test for verifying the improved total partitioning process. The test system has been successfully used in a 160 hour hot test using genuine high level liquid waste. During the hot test, the test system was stable, which demonstrated it was reliable for the hot test of the high level liquid waste partitioning.

Demonstration of an Improved Total Partitioning Process for High Level Liquid Waste Using Annular Centrifugal Contactors

High level liquid waste (HLLW) produced from the reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel still contains moderate amounts of uranium, transuranium (TRU) actinides, 90Sr, 137Cs, etc., and thus constitutes a permanent hazard to the environment. The partitioning and transmutation (P&T) strategy has increasingly attracted interest for the safe treatment and disposal of HLLW, in which the partitioning of HLLW is one of the critical technical issues. An improved total partitioning process, including a TRPO (tri-alkylphosphine oxide) process for the removal of actinides, a CESE (crown ether strontium extraction) process for the removal of Sr, and a calixcrown ether extraction process for the removal of Cs, has been developed to treat Chinese HLLW at the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET), Tsinghua University, China. A demonstration test of the improved total partitioning process was carried out using 74-stage 10-mm-dia annular centrifugal contactors and simulated HLLW. The test results showed that the decontamination factors were >1.2 × 106, 4600, and 7500 for Nd, Sr, and Cs, respectively. In the test, Nd was used to simulate Am. During the test, 74-stage 10-mm-dia annular centrifugal contactors worked stable continuously with no stage failing or interruption of the operation.

Radioactive Tracer Tests of Two Improved TRPO Processes for High-Level Liquid Waste Using Annular Centrifugal Contactors

High-level liquid waste (HLLW) produced from the reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel still contains moderate amounts of uranium, transuranium (TRU) actinides, and fission products, and thus constitutes a permanent hazard to the environment. The partitioning and transmutation (P&T) strategy has increasingly attracted interest for the safe treatment and disposal of HLLW, in which the partitioning of HLLW is one of the critical technical issues. Two improved trialkylphosphine oxide (TRPO) processes for the removal of actinides have been developed to treat Chinese HLLW, based on the original TRPO process. In one improved process N,N-diethylhydroxylamine as a reducing agent was used for reducing Np(V) and Np(VI) to Np(IV) in order to improve the extraction efficiency of Np. In the other improved process, ammonium vanadate as an oxidizing agent was used for oxidizing Np(V) and Np(IV) to Np(VI) in order to improve the extraction efficiency of Np. Radioactive tracer tests of two improved TRPO processes were carried out using 30-stage 10-mm-diam annular centrifugal contactors and simulated HLLW containing U, Np, Pu, and Am. The test results showed that the decontamination factor of total α activity was >1 × 105. During the test, 30-stage 10-mm-diam annular centrifugal contactors worked in a stable manner continuously, with no stage failing or any interruption of the operation.

Application of annular centrifugal contactors in the hot test of the improved total partitioning process for high level liquid waste

High level liquid waste (HLLW) produced from the reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel still contains moderate amounts of uranium, transuranium (TRU) actinides, 90Sr, 137Cs, etc., and thus constitutes a permanent hazard to the environment. The partitioning and transmutation (P&T) strategy has increasingly attracted interest for the safe treatment and disposal of HLLW, in which the partitioning of HLLW is one of the critical technical issues. An improved total partitioning process, including a TRPO (tri-alkylphosphine oxide) process for the removal of actinides, a CESE (crown ether strontium extraction) process for the removal of Sr, and a CECE (calixcrown ether cesium extraction) process for the removal of Cs, has been developed to treat Chinese HLLW. A 160-hour hot test of the improved total partitioning process was carried out using 72-stage 10-mm-dia annular centrifugal contactors (ACCs) and genuine HLLW. The hot test results showed that the average DFs of total α activity, Sr and Cs were 3.57×103, 2.25×104 and 1.68×104 after the hot test reached equilibrium, respectively. During the hot test, 72-stage 10-mm-dia ACCs worked stable, continuously with no stage failing or interruption of the operation.

Sustainable Development of Nuclear Energy and Study on ADS in China

As is well known, the disposal of high level nuclear waste is one of the key issues restricting the sustainable development of nuclear energy in the world. The partitioning and transmutation strategy (P&T) has been considered as an alternative for the disposal of high level nuclear waste in future advanced nuclear fuel cycles. For the transmutation of high level nuclear waste, accelerator driven sub-critical system (ADS) has been regarded as the most feasible choice. In this paper, the main technical characteristics of ADS system are described, the world research status and development trends of ADS are introduced, and ADS study plans in China are discussed.

Studies on LLFP transmutation in a pressurized water reactor

A systematic study on the long-lived fission product (LLFP) transmutation in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) is performed, aiming at an optimal transmutation strategy for present nuclear energy development. The LLFPs selected in the analysis include 99Tc and 129I discharged from light water reactors (LWRs). The isotope 127I is also considered to avoid the difficulties in isotopes separation. To minimize the negative impacts of LLFPs on the core performance and safety parameters, metallic technetium or MgI2 target pins mixed with ZrH2 are designed and investigated. Through the numerical analysis on equilibrium cycles, the transmuted amounts of 99Tc and 129I equal to the yields from 1.94 and 4.22 PWRs with a power of 1000 MWe, respectively. Numerical results indicate that both 99Tc and 129I can be transmuted conveniently in present PWRs in the form of target pins.

Transmutation Strategy Using Thorium-Reprocessed Fuel ADS for Future Reactors in Vietnam

Nuclear power is believed to be a key to the energy security for a developing country like Vietnam where the power demanding increases rapidly every year. Nevertheless, spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants is the source of radiotoxic and proliferation risk. A conceptual design of ADS utilizing thorium fuel as a based fuel and reprocessed fuel as a seed for nuclear waste transmutation and energy production is proposed as one of the clean, safe, and economical solutions for the problem. In the design, 96 seed assemblies and 84 blanket assemblies were inserted into the core to make a heterogeneous subcritical core configuration. Introducing thorium fuel into the core offers an effective way to transmute plutonium and minor actinide (MA) and gain energy from this process. Transmutation rate as a function of burnup is estimated using MCNPX 2.7.0 code. Results show that by using the seed-blanket designed ADS, at 40&#x2009;GWd/t burnup, 192&#x2009;kg of plutonium and 156&#x2009;kg of MA can be eliminated. Equivalently, 1&#x2009;<svg style="vertical-align:-3.39069pt;width:39.462502px;" id="M1" height="15.65" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 39.462502 15.65" width="39.462502" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,.062,11.362)"><path id="x47" d="M692 302v-28q-45 -6 -54.5 -17t-9.5 -55v-86q0 -62 7 -95q-7 -2 -32 -7.5l-37 -8l-35.5 -7.5t-40.5 -7t-38.5 -4t-40.5 -2q-165 0 -266 93t-101 243q0 84 32 151t86 108t121.5 63t142.5 22q29 0 62.5 -4t52 -7.5t47.5 -10.5t31 -7l15 -156l-28 -6q-17 87 -66.5 121.5&#xA;t-128.5 34.5q-117 0 -191 -80.5t-74 -216.5q0 -56 17 -110t49.5 -100.5t87.5 -74.5t124 -28q53 0 87 17q17 9 24.5 23t7.5 43v85q0 54 -15.5 67.5t-89.5 18.5v28h254z" /></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,12.217,11.362)"><path id="x57" d="M956 650v-28q-52 -7 -69 -22.5t-39 -77.5q-60 -175 -165 -533h-31l-175 499h-2l-163 -499h-31l-164 535q-18 60 -36 76.5t-65 21.5v28h243v-28q-53 -7 -63 -18.5t3 -49.5l122 -412h2l162 499h29l175 -500h2q87 277 113 401q12 45 0.5 59t-68.5 21v28h220z" /></g> <g transform="matrix(.012,-0,0,-.012,28.725,15.45)"><path id="x74" d="M298 36l-68 -35q-25 -13 -42 -13q-98 0 -98 119v290h-69l-4 11l28 29h45v72l65 67l14 -2v-137h113q8 -8 6 -21t-12 -19h-107v-256q0 -96 59 -96q29 0 61 17z" /></g><g transform="matrix(.012,-0,0,-.012,32.414,15.45)"><path id="x68" d="M513 0h-211v26q44 5 55 17t11 60v166q0 123 -98 123q-59 0 -104 -51v-238q0 -48 10 -60.5t55 -16.5v-26h-213l1 26q46 4 57 16t11 61v477q0 48 -9.5 58.5t-58.5 14.5v24q63 9 147 35v-336q73 73 143 73q64 0 101 -42t37 -129v-175q0 -49 11 -61t55 -16v-26z" /></g> </svg> ADS can be able to transmute the transuranic (TRU) waste from 2&#x2009;<svg style="vertical-align:-3.39069pt;width:39.462502px;" id="M2" height="15.65" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 39.462502 15.65" width="39.462502" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,.062,11.362)"><use xlink:href="#x47"/></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,12.217,11.362)"><use xlink:href="#x57"/></g> <g transform="matrix(.012,-0,0,-.012,28.725,15.45)"><use xlink:href="#x74"/></g><g transform="matrix(.012,-0,0,-.012,32.414,15.45)"><use xlink:href="#x68"/></g> </svg> LWRs. 14 units of ADS would be required to eliminate TRUs from the future reactors to be constructed in Vietnam.