Performance of thorium fueled fast breeders

Conference · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32143· OSTI ID:6747565

Marr, D. R.; Cantley, D. A.; Chandler, J. C.; McCurry, D. C.; Omberg, R. P.

Three studies were performed to evaluate the breeding ratio of fast breeders containing thorium. In a study of a small breeder, thorium metal and thorium oxide core designs were found to have similar breeding ratios. The slight advantage exhibited by the metal design was not considered significant since the design was based on a limited amount of thorium metal swelling data. In a study of a 1200 MWe plant, a plutonium-uranium oxide design was compared to a uranium-thorium design. The uranium-thorium design had a lower breeder ratio, but also had a negative sodium void effect. In the third study, the effect of replacing thorium oxide radial blankets with thorium metal radial blankets was evaluated. This was found to have little effect on the breeding ratio.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-14-2170
• OSTI ID: 6747565
• Report Number(s): HEDL-SA-1327-FP; CONF-771109-103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
BREEDER REACTORS
BREEDING RATIO
CHALCOGENIDES
CONVERSION RATIO
DESIGN
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FUEL CYCLE
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
PLUTONIUM RECYCLE
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTORS
THORIUM CYCLE
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES