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

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

OSTI ID:6983635

Sakurai, Shungo ^[1]; Masumi, Ryoji ^[2]; Masuda, Fujio ^[3]; Oka, Yoshiaki ^[4]

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1. Toshiba Corp., Kanagawa (Japan)
2. Hitachi Ltd., Ibaraki (Japan)
3. Nuclear Power Engineering Corp., Tokyo (Japan)
4. Univ. of Tokyo (Japan)

To determine effective utilization of plutonium in a mixed-oxide (MOX) core, which is defined as one in which all uranium fuels are replaced with MOX Fuel, the Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation has studied the high-moderation core (HMC), which reduces plutonium inventory, and the low-moderation core (LMC), which reduces the plutonium consumption ratio by increasing the fissile conversion ratio (FCR) (the ratio of residual fissile in discharged fuel to fissile inventory in loaded fuel). It has also evaluated the plutonium inventory savings of the HMC and the FCR increase of the LMC and compared with a reference MOX core, which is a full MOX core based on a 1350-MW(electric) advanced boiling water reactor. In this study, the so-called large square lattice core (LSLC) concept was developed as the LMC with as little plant system modification as possible. The hexagonal lattice core (HLC) concept was developed, which allows modification of the plant system for increasing FCR.

• OSTI ID: 6983635
• 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
210100* -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Boiling Water Cooled
ACTINIDES
ASIA
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CONVERSION RATIO
DESIGN
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
FUELS
JAPAN
METALS
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
PHYSICS
PLUTONIUM
POWER REACTORS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR LATTICES
REACTOR PHYSICS
REACTORS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SOLID FUELS
THERMAL REACTORS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS