CONCEPTUAL DESIGN AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF A STEAM-COOLED FAST BREEDER REACTOR
A conceptual design and economic evaluation of 300 and 40 MW/.sub e/ steam-cooled fast breeder reactor power plants were performed. A reactor core composed of U-Pu oxide rod-type fuel elements clad with Inconel-X and surrounded by a blanket of depleted UO/sub 2/ fuel was studied in some detail. Reactor breeding ratios of from 1.27 to 1.5 and overall system doubling times of from 20 to 30 years are achievable. For the near term (1967) 300 MW/sub e/ plant, an energy cost of 7.6 mills/kwh is estimated, based on AEC ground rules for privately financed plants and utilities. This cost may go down to 5.7 mills/kwh by 1975. For the 40 MW/sub e/ plant corresponding energy costs are 19.5 and 13.7 mills/kwh, r -spectively. The R&D program required for this reactor concept is estimated at million with an additional million for improvements leading to the 1975 reactor. Investigation of the operational and safety aspects of the reactor indicated that satisfactory procedures can be used for startup, shutdown, and emergency cooling of the reactor. An increase in reactivity upon flooding can be prevented by incorprating small amounts of high resonance absorption material in the core. Preliminary calculations indicate a substantial increase in reactivity upon loss of coolant for the 300 MW/sub e/ PuO/sub 2/ fueled reactor. To obtain designs with satisfactory voiding characteristics it may be necessary to provide high neutron leakage as ib a low L/D core or smaller volume core. Acceptable voiding characteristics appear possible with a Pu fueled 40 MWe reactor cooled with H/O steam, a Pu fueled 300MW/sub w/,reactor cooled with D/O steam, and a 300 MW/sub e/ U/sup 233/-Th fueled 300 MW/sub e/ breeder reactor cooled with H/sub 2/O steam. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- United Nuclear Corp. Development Div., White Plains, N.Y.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT(30-1)-2303
- NSA Number:
- NSA-16-015912
- OSTI ID:
- 4792649
- Report Number(s):
- NDA-2148-5
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-62
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALUMINUM ALLOYS
BLANKETS
BREEDING
BURNUP
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
COOLANTS
COOLING
DEPLETION
ECONOMICS
EQUATIONS
FAST NEUTRONS
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAS COOLANT
HEAVY WATER
HEAVY WATER COOLANT
INCONEL ALLOYS
LIFETIME
LOSSES
MIXING
NEUTRONS
NICKEL ALLOYS
NIOBIUM ALLOYS
OPERATION
PLANNING
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
POWER
POWER PLANTS
QUANTITY RATIO
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTORS
RESONANCE ESCAPE PROBABILITY
RODS
SHUTDOWN
STARTUP
STEAM
THORIUM
TITANIUM ALLOYS
URANIUM 233
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES
WATER COOLANT
ZONES