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Title: A Metal Fuel Core Concept for 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor

Abstract

This paper describes the core design and performance characteristics of a metal fuel core concept for a 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor. A ternary metal fuel form of U-TRU-Zr was assumed with weapons grade plutonium feed for the startup core and TRU recovered from LWR spent fuel for the recycled equilibrium core. A compact burner core was developed by trade-off between the burnup reactivity loss and TRU conversion ratio, with a fixed cycle length of one-year. In the startup core, the average TRU enrichment is 15.5%, the TRU conversion ratio is 0.81, and the burnup reactivity loss over a cycle is 3.6% {delta}k. The heavy metal and TRU inventories are 13.1 and 2.0 metric tons, respectively. The average discharge burnup is 93 MWd/kg, and the TRU consumption rate is 55.5 kg/year. For the recycled equilibrium core, the average TRU enrichment is 22.1 %, the TRU conversion ratio is 0.73, and the burnup reactivity loss is 2.2% {delta}k. The TRU inventory and consumption rate are 2.9 metric tons and 81.6 kg/year, respectively. The evaluated reactivity coefficients provide sufficient negative feedbacks. The control systems provide shutdown margins that are more than adequate. The integral reactivity parameters for quasi-static reactivity balance analysis indicatemore » favorable passive safety features, although detailed safety analyses are required to verify passive safety behavior. (authors)« less

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne IL 60439 (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
20979520
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: Advanced nuclear fuel cycles and systems (GLOBAL 2007), Boise - Idaho (United States), 9-13 Sep 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; 14 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of GLOBAL 2007 conference on advanced nuclear fuel cycles and systems, 1873 pages.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; ALLOY NUCLEAR FUELS; BURNUP; CONVERSION RATIO; HEAVY METALS; NUCLEAR FUEL CONVERSION; PLUTONIUM; REACTIVITY; REACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS; SPENT FUELS

Citation Formats

Yang, W S, Kim, T K, and Grandy, C. A Metal Fuel Core Concept for 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor. United States: N. p., 2007. Web.
Yang, W S, Kim, T K, & Grandy, C. A Metal Fuel Core Concept for 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor. United States.
Yang, W S, Kim, T K, and Grandy, C. 2007. "A Metal Fuel Core Concept for 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor". United States.
@article{osti_20979520,
title = {A Metal Fuel Core Concept for 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor},
author = {Yang, W S and Kim, T K and Grandy, C},
abstractNote = {This paper describes the core design and performance characteristics of a metal fuel core concept for a 1000 MWt Advanced Burner Reactor. A ternary metal fuel form of U-TRU-Zr was assumed with weapons grade plutonium feed for the startup core and TRU recovered from LWR spent fuel for the recycled equilibrium core. A compact burner core was developed by trade-off between the burnup reactivity loss and TRU conversion ratio, with a fixed cycle length of one-year. In the startup core, the average TRU enrichment is 15.5%, the TRU conversion ratio is 0.81, and the burnup reactivity loss over a cycle is 3.6% {delta}k. The heavy metal and TRU inventories are 13.1 and 2.0 metric tons, respectively. The average discharge burnup is 93 MWd/kg, and the TRU consumption rate is 55.5 kg/year. For the recycled equilibrium core, the average TRU enrichment is 22.1 %, the TRU conversion ratio is 0.73, and the burnup reactivity loss is 2.2% {delta}k. The TRU inventory and consumption rate are 2.9 metric tons and 81.6 kg/year, respectively. The evaluated reactivity coefficients provide sufficient negative feedbacks. The control systems provide shutdown margins that are more than adequate. The integral reactivity parameters for quasi-static reactivity balance analysis indicate favorable passive safety features, although detailed safety analyses are required to verify passive safety behavior. (authors)},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/20979520}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007},
month = {Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007}
}

Conference:
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