Using proliferation-resistant fuels to manage global plutonium inventories: going well beyond the spent-fuel standard
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, MS K551 Los Alamos NM 87545 (United States)
The National Academy of Sciences bas stated that the growing global stocks of civil and weapons plutonium represent a 'clear and present danger'. Proliferation-resistant fuels (PRFs) have been proposed by researchers in several countries including France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and the United States (US) as an effective sink for this plutonium. In place of the UO{sub 2} in mixed uranium-plutonium dioxide (MOX), PRFs blend a nonfertile-oxide-diluent and burnable poisons with PuO{sub 2}. The resultant ceramic is more chemically durable than MOX; consequently, the plutonium cannot be recovered by standard Plutonium-Uranium Reduction Extraction (PUREX) processing and is a more durable waste form than MOX. In the absence of the in situ production of {sup 239}Pu or {sup 233}U found in MOX and thorium fuels, respectively, an extremely deep bum of the plutonium is possible, producing a spent fuel that goes well beyond the spent-fuel standard. Calculations have shown that the reactivity behavior of these fuels can be tailored through the appropriate incorporation of burnable poisons to enable their use in existing light-water reactors without hardware or operational modifications. Depending on the fuel management strategy employed, PRFs destroy 60-80 wt % of their total plutonium charge, more than twice the consumption possible with MOX fuel. In addition, the isotopics of the residual spent plutonium are >50 wt % {sup 242}Pu, <20 wt % fissile plutonium, and >3 wt % {sup 238}Pu as compared with <15 wt % {sup 242}Pu, > 70 wt % fissile plutonium, and <1 wt % {sup 238}Pu for spent MOX. Spent PRF is, therefore, a substantially less attractive source for weapons material than spent MOX. A once-through, one-third PRF core consumes 90 kg of plutonium, whereas a one-third MOX core produces 70 kg. Thus, PRFs can be used to reduce plutonium inventories and the overall proliferation risk posed by commercial fuel cycles. It is recommended that the US Department of Energy develop PRFs on a not-to-interfere basis with the ongoing Material Disposition MOX program. Development of PRFs as a follow on to MOX for burning excess weapons plutonium could be leveraged to promote PRF consumption of global separated civil plutonium stocks. Thus, the US could take an active leadership role to enhance the proliferation resistance of commercial nuclear fuel cycles.
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23142274
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Global'99: International Conference on Future Nuclear Systems - Nuclear Technology - Bridging the Millennia, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 29 Aug - 3 Sep 1999; Other Information: Country of input: France; 18 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BURNABLE POISONS
CERAMICS
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 242
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
PROLIFERATION
REACTIVITY
SPENT FUELS
THORIUM
URANIUM
URANIUM 233
URANIUM DIOXIDE
WASTE FORMS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS