Metallic combinations of Pu-Th and /sup 233/U-Th or Pu-Th and /sup 233/U-/sup 233/U fuel cycles as possible alternatives to (Pu-U)0/sub 2/ in LMFBRS

Journal Article · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1982 · Nucl. Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6986842

Lee, C C; Karam, R A

Optimized breeding performances of three breeder strategies are compared. The first strategy is the normal mixed plutonium-uranium oxide fuel cycle, which is used as a reference case. The second is based on the use of the light water reactor generated plutonium in interim Pu-Th (metallic fuel) breeders cooled with sodium to build up /sup 233/U inventory for use in liquid-metal fast breeder reactors fueled with metallic /sup 233/U-Th. The third is based on a combination cycle involving two reactor types, Pu-Th and /sup 233/U/sup 238/U, both using metallic fuel and sodium as a coolant. These reactors will operate simultaneously; the excess /sup 233/U generated in the Pu-Th reactors is used to fuel the /sup 233/U-/sup 238/U reactors and the plutonium generated in the /sup 233/U-/sup 238/U reactors is used to fuel the Pu-Th reactors. The combination cycle has obvious antiproliferation characteristics. The breeding performance as measured by optimized compound system doubling time for nominal 1000-MW(electric) systems was 8.8 years for the combination system of Pu-Th and /sup 233/U-/sup 238/U reactors, 31.4 years for the /sup 233/U-Th reactor, and 14 years for the (Pu-U)O/sub 2/ reactor. The corresponding optimum fuel pin diameters were 0.30, 0.37, and 0.28 in., respectively. The ..delta..k/k change associated with the removal of all the sodium from the inner core (inner to outer core volume ratio is 60:40) was +0.03, +1.01, +1.23, and +2.60% for the /sup 233/U-Th, /sup 233/U-/sup 238/U, Pu-Th, and (Pu-U)O/sub 2/ reactors, respectively. Preliminary calculations indicate that it is possible to design the /sup 233/U-/sup 238/U reactors to operate on an extended cycle such that once the reactor is built, it only needs natural uranium as feed fuel for the rest of the lifetime of the reactor. Estimates of the fuel cycle costs of each reactor show that the cost of the extended burnup cycle is about35% less than the (Pu-U)O/sub 2/ cycle.

• Research Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology School of Nuclear Engineering, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
• OSTI ID: 6986842
• Journal Information: Nucl. Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: Nucl. Technol.; (United States) Vol. 56:3; ISSN NUTYB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
210802 -- Nuclear Power Plants-- Economics-- Fuel Cycle
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ACTINIDES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BREEDER REACTORS
BREEDING
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST ESTIMATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
HEAVY NUCLEI
INTERCHANGEABILITY
ISOTOPES
LIQUID FUELS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LIQUID METAL FUELS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS
METALS
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
NATURAL URANIUM
NATURAL URANIUM REACTORS
NUCLEAR FUEL CONVERSION
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PLUTONIUM COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM DIOXIDE
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
PLUTONIUM REACTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
SERVICE LIFE
SOLID FUELS
THORIUM 232
THORIUM ISOTOPES
THORIUM REACTORS
TRANSURANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM
URANIUM 233
URANIUM 238
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM ISOTOPES
URANIUM OXIDES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES