Reactor Physics Behavior of Transuranic-Bearing TRISO-Particle Fuel in a Pressurized Water Reactor
Calculations have been performed to assess the neutronic behavior of pins of Fully-Ceramic Micro-encapsulated (FCM) fuel in otherwise-conventional Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel pins. The FCM fuel contains transuranic (TRU)-only oxide fuel in tri-isotropic (TRISO) particles with the TRU loading coming from the spent fuel of a conventional LWR after 5 years of cooling. Use of the TRISO particle fuel would provide an additional barrier to fission product release in the event of cladding failure. Depletion calculations were performed to evaluate reactivity-limited burnup of the TRU-only FCM fuel. These calculations showed that due to relatively little space available for fuel, the achievable burnup with these pins alone is quite small. Various reactivity parameters were also evaluated at each burnup step including moderator temperature coefficient (MTC), Doppler, and soluble boron worth. These were compared to reference UO{sub 2} and MOX unit cells. The TRU-only FCM fuel exhibits degraded MTC and Doppler coefficients relative to UO{sub 2} and MOX. Also, the reactivity effects of coolant voiding suggest that the behavior of this fuel would be similar to a MOX fuel of very high plutonium fraction, which are known to have positive void reactivity. In general, loading of TRU-only FCM fuel into an assembly without significant quantities of uranium presents challenges to the reactor design. However, if such FCM fuel pins are included in a heterogeneous assembly alongside LEU fuel pins, the overall reactivity behavior would be dominated by the uranium pins while attractive TRU destruction performance levels in the TRU-only FCM fuel pins is. From this work, it is concluded that use of heterogeneous assemblies such as these appears feasible from a preliminary reactor physics standpoint.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1046063
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-11-23760; TRN: US1203906
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: PHYSOR 2012,Knoxville, TN,04/15/2012,04/20/2012
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BEHAVIOR
BURNUP
CERAMICS
DOPPLER COEFFICIENT
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
FUEL PINS
FUELS
FUEL PARTICLES
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR PHYSICS
REACTORS
SPENT FUELS
TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT
FCM
Fully-encapsulated
Microstructure
PWR
Transuranics
TRISO