Ambidexter-dupic: an LWR-MSR symbiont operating on an effective and efficient fuel cycle

Conference · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:20979644

Ham, T K; Lee, Y J; Seo, M H; Oh, S K ^[1]

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1. Energy System Division, Ajou University, Suwon, 433-749 (Korea, Republic of)

The AMBIDEXTER is an integral-type molten-salt reactor system, having been designed for the GEN IV requirements with a denatured thorium-uranium fuel cycle. And the DUPIC fuel cycle, recognized as a highly transparent reprocessing method for the PWR spent fuel, was developed through Korea-Canada-U.S. collaboration. This paper demonstrates a closed uranium-thorium fuel cycle strategy for a PWR and MSR symbiont via combining these two. This fuel cycle improves its transparency in the nuclear proliferation aspect and it does its economics in the spent-fuel management aspect. Fluorination uranium content in the PWR spent fuel, in the aftermath of which the remnants are composed of fluorides of residual uranium, plutonium, minor actinides and non-volatile fission-products, and are to be used as the feedstock of initial and daily loads of the AMBIDEXTER. Thorium fluoride is admixed at early operating stage to suppress the reactivity increase rate due to burnout of the initially loaded fission products, and through the reactor lifetime to compensate the transmutation and fission losses. On the bypass line linked to the fuel-salt recirculation stream in the reactor system, a small-scale on-line fluorination unit evaporates surplus uranium daily-fed, but not yet converted to plutonium. As {sup 232}Th converts into {sup 233}U, the maximum of 1.67% fissile uranium enrichment was achieved presently, that can improve the economics when used in PWR fuel. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 20979644
• 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; 8 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

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CANADA
ECONOMICS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUORINATION
MOLTEN SALT REACTORS
PLUTONIUM
PROLIFERATION
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
ROKKASHO REPROCESSING PLANT
SPENT FUELS
THORIUM 232
THORIUM CYCLE
THORIUM FLUORIDES
TRANSMUTATION
URANIUM
URANIUM 233
URANIUM RECYCLE
USA