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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Progress in extending burnup of LWR fuel

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6614711
Progress in increasing burnup of LWR fuel has been and continues to be made. Initially, LWR fuels were designed to achieve a burnup of about 33 GWd/tu for PWRs and about 28 GWd/tu for BWRs. Current warranties are about 36 GWd/tu and 31 GWd/tu for PWRs and BWRs, respectively. Present optimum extended burnups (batch average) are typically about 50 GWd/tu and 45 GWd/tu for PWRs and BWRs on 12-month cycles, respectively, and about 10% higher for 18-month cycles. Thus, the goal of research and development programs of the recent past has been to achieve these burnup levels reliably with maximum duty cycle flexibility.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
6614711
Report Number(s):
PNL-SA-13599; CONF-860418-22; ON: DE87006406
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English