Loading blended, low-enriched uranium fuel in browns ferry units 2 and 3

Conference · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:22039477

Brown, C; Eichenberg, T; Haun, J; Hulsman, J ^[1]; Riley, E ^[2]

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1. AREVA NP Inc. (United States)
2. Tennessee Valley Authority TVA (United States)

This paper summarizes fuel and cycle design results for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) / Dept. of Energy (DOE) program to burn blended, low-enriched uranium (BLEU) material in the Browns Ferry Nuclear Units 2 and 3. The BLEU material typically has about 60 times the allowed limit of U-236 in what would be defined as commercial, i.e., virgin, uranium. U-236 in particular is a strong neutron absorber. Also included is a comparison of cycles using commercial uranium versus BLEU to determine the impact on key core design parameters of the high U-236 content in the BLEU. Finally, there is a short discussion of the economic advantages of BLEU fuel. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22039477
• Resource Relation: Conference: PHYSOR-2006: American Nuclear Society's Topical Meeting on Reactor Physics - Advances in Nuclear Analysis and Simulation, Vancouver, BC (Canada), 10-14 Sep 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 3 refs.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
BROWNS FERRY-2 REACTOR
BROWNS FERRY-3 REACTOR
BURNUP
DESIGN
FUEL CYCLE
NEUTRON ABSORBERS
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
URANIUM 236