Potential utilization of SRS uranium with high {sup 236}U content as commercial LWR fuel
- Westinghouse Savannah River Company, Aiken, SC (United States)
A large amount of highly enriched uranyl nitrate solution and highly enriched irradiated fuel is stored at the Savannah River site (SRS). A potential exists for using enriched uranium recovered from processing of stored uranyl nitrate solution and irradiated fuels by blending down to {approximately}5.0 wt% {sup 235}U and using it in fuels for commercial nuclear power plants. However, the recycle of uranium in the U.S. Department of Energy reactor fuel cycle has resulted in the enrichment of {sup 234}U and especially of {sup 236}U. The {sup 234}U isotopic content in the blended uranium will be increased by a factor of 2 with respect to commercial fuel, and the {sup 236}U isotopic fraction will be increased by more than 100 times over the content in commercial fuel. The {sup 236}U isotope acts as a neutron absorber and causes a fuel cycle penalty. Several earlier studies were done to determine the fuel cycle effect of {sup 236}U. The present study determines accurately the fuel cycle penalty using the latest Westinghouse design codes and validated cross-section sets. It concentrates on studying the neutronic and safety characteristics of a typical pressurized water reactor using fuels derived from SRS recovered uranium with very high {sup 236}U content.
- OSTI ID:
- 186711
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950601--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 72; ISSN TANSAO; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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