3. Переработка и утилизация ядерных отходов

Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel.

Separation techniques:

PUREX process is “liquid- liquid” extraction method.

• the spent fuel first dissolved in hot, nitric acid (to extract the elements from the spent fuel easily).

• then it's brought into contact with an organic solvent (tributal phosphate) which removes the plutonium and uranium

MALTEN SOLTS reprocessing is “solvent-solvent” extraction method.

• the lump spent fuel put in solvent and get a solution with a lot of ions.

• put electrodes into this salt melt

• set the voltage between them, certain elements stick to electrodes and certain ones remain in the solution

• by selecting the voltage we are able to select which element we extracting

NCLR reprocessing reduces the volume of high-level waste, but doesn’t reduce radioactivity or heat generation and doesn’t eliminate the need for a geological waste repository.

The principle of direct disposal of spent nuclear fuel is that after removal from the reactor it’s sent to the temporary repository. They can be wet (water pool) or dry (containers on the ground).

Waste with low and middle levels of radioactivity discharged immediately after formation in certain places. Then it all goes to:

DEEP GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL

• high-level wastes (spent fuel)

• use mining technologies to dig a tunnel for container with spent fuel

4. Международная космическая станция: научные исследования. Космический туризм

International Space Station - habitable Earth satellite.

• _{the 9}^th space station ever to be inhabited;

• ₁^st component was launched in 1998;

• _{ISS programme} - a joint project that includes 5 participating space agencies: 

• NASA,

• ^the Russian Federal Space Agency, 

• ^{JAXA (Japan)}

• ^{ESA (Europe)}

• ^{CSA (Canada).}

The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.

The station is divided into two sections, the Russian orbital segment (ROS) and the United States orbital segment (USOS).

Purposes of ISS:

• _Research

• _Exploration

• _Educational

There is a lot of research conducted on the ISS:

• _{ISS provides unique conditions: zero gravity and exposure to space in a long term period.}

• _{Scientists on Earth have access to the crew's data and can modify experiments or launch new ones.}

• _{The fields of research include} Astrobiology, astronomy,  space medicine etc etc.

Space tourism

• _{Space tourism - space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes;}

• ₁^st space tourist - Dennis Tito (2001).

Orbital space tourism

Only the Russian Space Agency provides transport to date. The publicized price for flights brokered by Space Adventures to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been US $20–40 million, during the period 2001–2009.

Proposed orbital ventures:

• _{SpaceX is a private space company which is developing their own rocket family called Falcon and a capsule named Dragon, capable of sending up to seven people to any space station;}

• _{Boeing is building the CST-100;}

• _{Space Adventures Ltd. are working on DSE-Alpha, a circumlunar mission to the moon;}

• _{Excalibur Almaz plans to carry paying research crews into low Earth orbit and beyond.}

Several plans have been proposed for using a space station as a hotel:

• _{American motel tycoon Robert Bigelow has acquired the designs for inflatable space habitats and has already launched two first inflatable habitat modules;}

• _{The Space Island Group have set out plans for their Space Island Project, and plans on having 20,000 people on their "space island" by 2020.}

Suborbital flights

Suborbital flights are peaking at an altitude of 100–160 kilometres. Passengers would experience 3 to 6 minutes of weightlessness. Projected costs are expected to be about $200,000 per passenger.

Projects (inter alia):

• _{Virgin Galactic}. Spaceflights will last 2.5 hours, carry 6 passengers;

• _{XCOR Aerospace is developing a suborbital vehicle called Lynx;}

• _{Armadillo Aerospace is developing a two-seat vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) rocket called Hyperion.}