Evaluation of material accountancy techniques for 233Pa from thorium nuclear fuels

Davis, Victoria; Hitt, George W.; Richards, Scott; Gariazzo, Claudio; Goddard, Braden

doi:10.1016/j.net.2024.10.028

Evaluation of material accountancy techniques for ²³³Pa from thorium nuclear fuels

Journal Article · Sat Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Nuclear Engineering and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2024.10.028· OSTI ID:2476741

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Gariazzo, Claudio ^[3]; ^[1]

Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)
Coastal Carolina Univ., Conway, SC (United States)
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Thorium is a promising alternative to uranium as nuclear fuel with advantages such as higher abundance, lower production of long-lived transuranic elements, and potentially better proliferation resistance. However, thorium presents a potential pathway for proliferation where produced ²³³Pa can be diverted for the clandestine production of safeguarded ²³³U. To prevent this, the ability to detect and measure ²³³Pa must be assessed. This paper reviews several nuclear material accountancy techniques to determine their suitability for detecting ²³³Pa extracted from irradiated thorium fuel. Hybrid K-edge densitometry and passive gamma spectroscopy have been found to be the best options based on technology maturity, cost, accuracy, and acquisition time. Thorium can be used in various reactor designs such as pressurized water reactors (PWRs), Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactors, and molten salt reactors (MSRs). Therefore, thorium-uranium oxide fueling was modeled for three representative reactors (PWR, CANDU, MSR), burning the fuel to 47 GWd/MTHM for PWR, 19 GWd/MTHM for CANDU, and at a steady power of 52.711 MW/MTHM for MSR. Within each model, the protactinium element in the used fuel was extracted and its isotopic content analyzed. Simulated results indicated that ²³³Pa can be detected using passive gamma spectroscopy in each fuel type at all decay times (0–300 days) following separation.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 2476741

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2572619

Journal Information:: Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Engineering and Technology Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 57; ISSN 1738-5733

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
233Pa
233U
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safeguards

Evaluation of material accountancy techniques for 233Pa from thorium nuclear fuels

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