Effective utilization of uranium and plutonium in LWR cores - plutonium utilization improvements in PWR cores

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:6662742

Sasaki, Makoto ^[1]; Iwase, Toshihiko ^[2]; Kanda, Keiji ^[3]

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1. Mitsubishi Atomic Power Industries, Inc., Tokyo (Japan)
2. Nuclear Power Engineering Corp., Tokyo (Japan)
3. Kyoto Univ., Osaka (Japan)

The Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation is promoting a program to investigate mixed-oxide (MOX)-fueled light water reactor (LWR) cores in order to use uranium and plutonium resources more effectively. This is one of a series of LWR improvements programs. In this study, an MOX core is defined as one in which all the uranium assemblies are replaced with MOX fuel. Two types of MOX cores have been studied: high-moderation MOX cores and low-moderation MOX cores. The former is one in which the atomic ratio of hydrogen to heavy metal (H/HM) is high enough to provide a high moderation and consequent reduction in the fissile plutonium inventory. The latter is one in which the H/HM ratio is small enough to provide a high fissile conversion ratio (FCR) (ratio of fissile residual in discharged fuel to fissile inventory in loaded fuel) and a consequent reduction in the consumption of fissile plutonium.

• OSTI ID: 6662742
• Report Number(s): CONF-921102--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 66
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210200* -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled
ACTINIDES
ASIA
CONVERSION RATIO
DESIGN
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
FUELS
JAPAN
METALS
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
PHYSICS
PLUTONIUM
POWER REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR PHYSICS
REACTORS
SOLID FUELS
THERMAL REACTORS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS