Assessment of Core Physics Characteristics of Extended Enrichment and Higher Burnup LWR Fuels using the Polaris/PARCS Two-Step Approach (Vol. 2: BWR Fuel)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Nuclear fuel vendors and utilities are currently investigating changes to fuel contents and fuel designs for more economical and safer reactor operations. Extending cycle lengths beyond 18-month cycles for pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and 24-month cycles for boiling water reactors (BWRs) requires extending fuel enrichments beyond the current 5 wt % 235U limit. Therefore, low-enriched uranium plus (LEU+) fuel is expected to be used in current light-water reactor fleets in the near term. LEU+ is a subset of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and is a term to describe fuel enrichments above 5% up to 10%. A series of studies were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to compare low-enriched uranium (LEU) with LEU+ fuel with respect to isotopic fuel content, lattice parameters, and core physics to identify any challenges in operation, storage, and transportation.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 2006951
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM--2022/2444
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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