OPTIMIZATION OF HETEROGENEOUS UTILIZATION OF THORIUM IN PWRS TO ENHANCE PROLIFERATION RESISTANCE AND REDUCE WASTE.
Issues affecting the implementation, public perception and acceptance of nuclear power include: proliferation, radioactive waste, safety, and economics. The thorium cycle directly addresses the proliferation and waste issues, but optimization studies of core design and fuel management are needed to ensure that it fits within acceptable safety and economic margins. Typical pressurized water reactors, although loaded with uranium fuel, produce 225 to 275 kg of plutonium per gigawatt-year of operation. Although the spent fuel is highly radioactive, it nevertheless offers a potential proliferation pathway because the plutonium is relatively easy to separate, amounts to many critical masses, and does not present any significant intrinsic barrier to weapon assembly. Uranium 233, on the other hand, produced by the irradiation of thorium, although it too can be used in weapons, may be ''denatured'' by the addition of natural, depleted or low enriched uranium. Furthermore, it appears that the chemical behavior of thoria or thoria-urania fuel makes it a more stable medium for the geological disposal of the spent fuel. It is therefore particularly well suited for a once-through fuel cycle. The use of thorium as a fertile material in nuclear fuel has been of interest since the dawn of nuclear power technology due to its abundance and to potential neutronic advantages. Early projects include homogeneous mixtures of thorium and uranium oxides in the BORAX-IV, Indian Point I, and Elk River reactors, as well as heterogeneous mixtures in the Shippingport seed-blanket reactor. However these projects were developed under considerably different circumstances than those which prevail at present. The earlier applications preceded the current proscription, for non-proliferation purposes, of the use of uranium enriched to more than 20 w/o in {sup 235}U, and has in practice generally prohibited the use of uranium highly enriched in {sup 235}U. They were designed when the expected burnup of light water fuel was on the order of 25 MWD/kgU--about half the present day value--and when it was expected that the spent fuel would be recycled to recover its fissile content.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/OFFICE OF SCIENCE (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 15009919
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-73152-2004; R&D Project: 86382 AND 86392; 820101000; TRN: US0406822
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Aug 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ENRICHED URANIUM
ERR REACTOR
FERTILE MATERIALS
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURES
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR POWER
OPTIMIZATION
POLONIUM 216
PROLIFERATION
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SPENT FUELS
THORIUM
THORIUM CYCLE
URANIUM 233
URANIUM OXIDES
WASTES