Technical and Economic Assessment of the Prospects for Radiogenic Lead as a Coolant for Lead Cooled Fast Reactors

放射性铅已被提议作为铅冷快堆的可能冷却剂。放射性铅是自然界中存在的铅，是以前的锕系元素（如铀和钍）的放射性衰变的衰变产物。通常，它位于远离常规铅的地质位置。一些相对纯净的放射性铅矿床已经被发现，放射性铅的PB208同位素比例高于正常的自然铅。铅208具有完整的核壳，因此不太可能在核反应堆环境中吸收中子。虽然Pb 208作为极好的LFR冷却剂的潜力已经被知道了一段时间，但是设想富集天然铅以提高Pb 208浓度是不可行的或不经济的。本项目旨在评估放射性成因铅的鉴定和制备是否有较好的前景。该项目将审查放射性铅的技术潜力（在反应堆物理学方面），并评估与基于核物理学的天然铅浓缩相比，大规模获得这种材料的经济性。

Radiogenic lead has been proposed as a possible coolant for Lead Cooled Fast Reactors. Radiogenic lead is lead that occurs in nature as the decay product of the radioactive decay of previous actinides (such as uranium and thorium). Typically it is located away from the geological locations of regular lead. Some deposits of relatively pure radiogenic lead have been identified.Radiogenic lead has a high proportion of the PB208 isotope than normal naturally occurring lead. Pb 208 has complete nuclear shells and hence is unlikely to absorb neutrons in a nuclear reactor environment. While the potential of Pb208 as a superb LFR coolant has been known for some time it is not practicable or economic to envisage the enrichment of natural lead to enhance Pb 208 concentrations. This project is to assess whether the identification and preparation of radiogenic lead might be a better prospect. The project will examine the technical potential (in terms of reactor physics) of radiogenic lead and also assess the economics of obtaining such material at scale in contrast to nuclear physics based enrichment of natural lead.