IEER SDA Volume 5, Number 1: Atomic Puzzler

The Atomic Puzzler!

Time once again for the popular SDA Atomic Puzzler! Yes, this is the familiar Crossword Edition, but just so your math skills don't get rusty, we've tossed in a little "Arithmetic for Activists" too. All words are described somewhere in this issue of SDA. So read closely, sharpen those pencils, and good luck!


ACROSSDOWN
3. A multi-purpose reactor, one of whose uses would be tritium production.1. DOE will fund research into this type of tritium production technology while pursuing a commercial reactor option.
5. A generic term for the process of separating spent nuclear fuel into plutonium, uranium, and fission products.2. Decay product of tritium.
7. This method for the process described in 5 Across uses tributyl phosphate as a solvent.4. SEE SPECIAL EGGHEAD PUZZLER QUESTION BELOW
10. Adjective describing a new technique for the process described in 5 Across to collect uranium and transuranics on different electrodes.6. In addition to principles for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, the final document of the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty also outlined ________.
12. IEER recommends this short-term option for the management of spent nuclear fuel.8.Adjective referring to the long-range weapons being reduced in START II.
14.______ acid is used to remove cladding from spent nuclear fuel rods in the process described in 7 Across.9.The process through which irradiated uranium fuel and/or targets are exposed.
15.Fuel irradiated for an extended period of time to generate large amounts of energy.11.Tritium is a radioactive isotope of this element.
-13.Technical shorthand for tritiated water which has one atom of tritium in it.

SPECIAL EGGHEAD PUZZLER QUESTION

Part 1: The Department of Energy is considering reprocessing a variety of materials at the Savannah River Site. One material is Mark-31 targets used to produce plutonium. The DOE currently has approximately 16, 000 Mark-31 targets at the Savannah River Site. Reprocessing would generate approximately 131.25 liters of liquid high-level waste (HLW) for every target processed. How many liters of liquid HLW would be generated from reprocessing all the Mark-31 targets?

Part 2: The DOE had 127 million liters of liquid HLW at the Savannah River Site at the end of 1993. What would be the percentage increase in liquid HLW at the site with the waste generated by reprocessing the Mark-31 targets, and an additional 9.5 million liters of liquid HLW from other proposed reprocessing plans? (Express answer as a percent, rounded to the nearest whole number.)


Answers available here.

Return to SDA Vol. 5 No. 1 Main Menu.
Return to SDA Main Menu.
Return to IEER Homepage.


Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Comments to Outreach Coordinator: ieer@ieer.org
Takoma Park, Maryland, USA

Last updated: November, 1996