Heavy water reactor spent-fuel regeneration with fusion neutrons

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:6090668

Sahin, S; Yapici, H; Baltacioglu, E

In recent work, the regeneration of CANDU spent fuel in a deuterium-tritium (D-T)-driven hybrid reactor blanket has been investigated. Scientists and engineers now have begun to believe that the economic feasibility of advanced fusion fuel cycles will be possible soon after the first generation of reactors based on conventional fusion fuel (D-T). In the work reported in this paper, a semicatalyzed deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion reactor has been investigated to drive a fissile blanket that contains CANDU spent fuel. The fuel regeneration has been studied coupled with substantial electricity production in situ. The main conclusions can be summarized as follows: (1) The spent-fuel regeneration in a semicatalyzed (D-D) fusion-fission blanket proceeds faster than the pure (D-T)-driven hybrid blanket per incident fusion neutron energy load at the first wall; (2) The high blanket multiplication factor M allows one to produce abundant electricity in situ; (3) The blanket produces a substantial amount of tritium for satellite (D-T) fusion reactors; (4) The spent fuel can be regenerated to be used in an advanced CANDU reactor with thorium recycling, even to the degree necessary for use in a conventional LWR. 1 ref., 1 fig.

• OSTI ID: 6090668
• Report Number(s): CONF-891103--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 60
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700200* -- Fusion Energy-- Fusion Power Plant Technology
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BREEDING BLANKETS
BREEDING RATIO
CANDU TYPE REACTORS
CONVERSION RATIO
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
D-D REACTORS
D-T REACTORS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FUEL CYCLE
FUELS
HEAVY WATER MODERATED REACTORS
HELIUM 3
HELIUM ISOTOPES
HYBRID REACTORS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS
NEUTRAL-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
POWER GENERATION
PRESSURE TUBE REACTORS
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
RECYCLING
REGENERATION
REMOVAL
SPENT FUELS
STABLE ISOTOPES
THERMAL REACTORS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TRITIUM
USES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES