Plutonium disposition in CANDU reactors

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:182982

Hink, A D; Campbell, R H; Feinroth, H; Hopkins, J; Luxat, J

Steps are being taken by the US and Russian to reduce their nuclear arsenals thus leading to a surplus of weapons-grade plutonium (WPu). This material represents a proliferation risk. Consequently, there is a strong desire to convert excess WPu into a form which would make it resistant to theft, diversion or re-deployment. One particular method, identified by the US National Academy of Sciences, was to utilize the plutonium in Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies in existing CANDU reactors. CANDU reactors are designed, licensed, built, and supported by Atomic Energy of Canada limited (AECL), and currently use natural uranium oxide as fuel. The MOX spent fuel assemblies removed from the reactor would be very similar to the spent fuel currently produced using natural uranium fuel, thus rendering the plutonium as unattractive as that in the stockpiles of commercial spent fuel. Under the sponsorship of the US Department of Energy, a study was performed by AECL Technologies Inc., the US subsidiary of AECL, and Ontario Hydro, a Canadian utility which owns and operates twenty CANDU reactors, to confirm feasibility of the CANDU approach. Other contributors to the study were the US DOE Hanford site contractor, Zircatech Precision Industries which produces about half of the natural uranium fuel assemblies currently used in Canada, MOX fuel fabrication experts from Babcock and Wilcox, and technical specialists from Gamma Engineering Corporation. In view of the nature of the study, input was sought and obtained from the Atomic Energy Control Board which regulates the Canadian nuclear industry, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DOE`s Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore Laboratories.

• OSTI ID: 182982
• Report Number(s): CONF-950917--; ISBN 0-7918-1219-7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
CANDU TYPE REACTORS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DESIGN
ECONOMICS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR WEAPONS DISMANTLEMENT
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM RECYCLE
RADIATION PROTECTION
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
URANIUM RECYCLE
USA