Safeguard aspects of sup 244 Cm as a multiplier in cylindrical hybrid blankets

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:6799805

Al-Kusayer, T A; Sahin, S

Presently, nuclear power plants are producing substantial amounts of actinides in the form of nuclear waste material. Previous work has demonstrated that some of the nuclear waste actinides, such as {sup 241}Am and {sup 244}Cm, are effective neutron multipliers in a hybrid blanket. They will be converted, partially, to new types of nuclear fuel wit superior neutronic properties, such as {sup 242m}Am and {sup 245}Cm. In this work, the neutron multiplication and breeding performance of {sup 244}Cm is analyzed in connection with a deuterium-tritium (D-T)-driven experimental hybrid blanket in cylindrical geometry within the research program AYMAN in order to simulate relatively realistic neutron spectra for future hybrid reactors. Four blanket configurations with different multipliers are investigated for comparison. In all configurations, the ThO{sub 2} fuel zone is 13 cm, making 10 rows in hexagonal range. The {sup 244}Cm multiplier is introduced by replacing the first ThO{sub 2} row with a mixed fuel made of 50% CmO{sub 2} and 50% ThO{sub 2}. One can observe that a {sup 244}Cm multiplier leads to the highest tritium breeding ratio. Uranium-233 production is reduced compared to beryllium and lead multipliers. The 50% {sup 244}Cm in the first row contributes to the fission rate more than all of the {sup 232}Th in the blanket. About 20% of the {sup 244}Cm is converted into {sup 245}Cm, while 80% of the {sup 244}Cm burns up. 14 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.

• OSTI ID: 6799805
• Report Number(s): CONF-860610--Summs.
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 52
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700201* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Blanket Engineering
A CODES
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BARYON REACTIONS
BARYONS
BREEDING BLANKETS
BREEDING RATIO
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPUTER CODES
CONVERSION RATIO
CURIUM 244
CURIUM ISOTOPES
DATA
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FERMIONS
FISSILE MATERIALS
FISSIONABLE MATERIALS
FUELS
HADRON REACTIONS
HADRONS
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYBRID REACTORS
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUCLEONS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
THEORETICAL DATA
THERMONUCLEAR FUELS
THORIUM COMPOUNDS
THORIUM OXIDES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES