A hybrid nuclear reactor that is operable to produce a medical isotope includes an ion source operable to produce an ion beam from a gas, a target chamber including a target that interacts with the ion beam to produce neutrons, and an activation cell positioned proximate the target chamber and including a parent material that interacts with the neutrons to produce the medical isotope via a fission reaction. An attenuator is positioned proximate the activation cell and selected to maintain the fission reaction at a subcritical level, a reflector is positioned proximate the target chamber and selected to reflect neutrons toward the activation cell, and a moderator substantially surrounds the activation cell, the attenuator, and the reflector.

An apparatus for generating medical isotopes provides an annular fissile solution vessel surrounding a neutron generator. The annular fissile solution vessel provides for good capture of the emitted neutrons and a geometry that provides enhanced stability in an aqueous reactor. A neutron multiplier and/or a neutron moderator may be used to improve the efficiency and control the criticality of the reaction in the annular fissile solution vessel.

An apparatus for generating medical isotopes provides an annular fissile solution vessel surrounding a neutron generator. The annular fissile solution vessel provides for good capture of the emitted neutrons and a geometry that provides enhanced stability in an aqueous reactor. A neutron multiplier and/or a neutron moderator may be used to improve the efficiency and control the criticality of the reaction in the annular fissile solution vessel.

The new features of an accelerator driven subcritical reactor disclosed by this invention include the multiple intake ports connected to the reactor vessel for delivering protons from one or more accelerators to accommodate the full length LWR spent fuels for furnishing the desirable neutron distribution in a subcritical core to incinerate nuclear wastes. This is based on the notion of adopting the spent fuels in intact form to feed directly to the newly designed subcritical core. External modulators in the proton intake ports have the ability of splitting the fluxes and adjusting their energy from one or more accelerators to form multiple proton streams arriving at different axial locations in the spallation target for creating multiple neutron sources. The new design could combine the cycles of reprocessing spent fuels, manufacturing fuels for reuse, and incinerating minor actinides into one single cycle.

An aqueous assembly has a negative coefficient of reactivity with a magnitude. The aqueous assembly includes a vessel and an aqueous solution, with a fissile solute, supported in the vessel. A reactivity stabilizer is disposed within the aqueous solution to reduce the magnitude of the negative coefficient of reactivity of the aqueous assembly during operation of the aqueous assembly.

An aqueous assembly has a negative coefficient of reactivity with a magnitude. The aqueous assembly includes a vessel and an aqueous solution, with a fissile solute, supported in the vessel. A reactivity stabilizer is disposed within the aqueous solution to reduce the magnitude of the negative coefficient of reactivity of the aqueous assembly during operation of the aqueous assembly.

Systems and methods that facilitate the transmutation of long-lived radioactive transuranic waste into short-live radioactive nuclides or stable nuclides using pre-pulse lasers to irradiate carbon nanotubes (CNTs) saturated with tritium into ionized gas of carbon and tritium and a laser-driven particle beam to fuse with the tritium and generate neutrons.

Systems and methods that facilitate the transmutation of long-lived radioactive transuranic waste into short-live radioactive nuclides or stable nuclides using an electrostatic accelerator particle beam to generate neutrons.

A target irradiation system for irradiating a radioisotope target in a vessel penetration of a fission reactor, including a target delivery assembly including a body defining a central bore, a basket that is slidably receivable within the central bore of the body, and a winch that is connected to the basket by a cable, the target delivery assembly being affixed to the vessel penetration of the reactor, and a target passage that is in fluid communication with the target delivery assembly, wherein the basket is configured to receive the radioisotope target therein via the target passage and be lowered into the vessel penetration of the reactor when irradiating the radioisotope target, and the target delivery system forms a portion of the pressure boundary of the reactor when in fluid communication with the reactor.

A neutron detector is disclosed herein. The neutron detector can include a housing defining a cavity, wherein the housing is configured to permit an amount of neutrons emitted from a core of a nuclear reactor to enter the cavity. The neutron detector can also include an amount of a neutron sensitive material dispositioned within the cavity, wherein the neutron sensitive material is configured to generate and emit gamma rays upon interacting with the amount of neutrons. The neutron detector can further include an amount of electron emissive material configured to generate and emit a current of electrons upon interacting with the emitted gamma rays, wherein the current of electrons is indicative of the amount of neutrons emitted from the core of the nuclear reactor.