Thorium plutonium (TREX) fuel for weapons-grade plutonium disposition in pressurized water reactors

Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:426529

Comfort, C; Ferguson, C; Klima, S; Lilly, D E; Rahnema, F ^[1]

---

1. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

The goal of this study was to create a pressurized water reactor (PWR) reactor assembly (17 x 17) that would burn weapons-grade plutonium (WGP). Current designs of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels combine WGP with uranium as the fuel. MOX fuel assemblies will destroy plutonium, but only 40 to 50% of the plutonium present in the fuel. This percentage is limited by the presence of {sup 238}U in the core, which becomes {sup 239}Pu by absorption and decay. The production of plutonium counteracts the disposition of WGP in current MOX fuel designs. This problem can be overcome by replacing the uranium in a MOX design with thorium. This loss of uranium (primarily {sup 238}U) halts the production of {sup 239}Pu in the thorium plutonium (TREX) fuel. The absence of {sup 239}Pu production allows the TREX design to burn up to 85 wt% of the {sup 239}Pu, originally loaded in the fuel.

• OSTI ID: 426529
• Report Number(s): CONF-961103--
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 75; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BURNUP
DESIGN
MIXTURES
NUCLEAR FUELS
PLUTONIUM
PWR TYPE REACTORS
THORIUM