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Title: Investigation of Burnup Credit Issues in BWR Fuel

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7629
 [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Physics and Engineering Division

Calculations for long-term-disposal criticality safety of spent nuclear fuel requires the application of burnup credit because of the large mass of fissile material that will be present in the repository. Burnup credit calculations are based on depletion calculations that provide a conservative estimate of spent fuel contents, followed by criticality calculations to assess the value of keff for a spent fuel cask or a fuel configuration under a variety of probabilistically derived events. In order to ensure that the depletion calculation is conservative, it is necessary to both qualify and quantify assumptions that can be made in depletion models used to characterize spent fuel. Most effort in the United States this decade has focused on burnup issues related to pressurized-water reactors. However, requirements for the permanent disposal of fuel from boiling-water reactors has necessitated development of methods for prediction of spent fuel contents for such fuels. Concomitant with such analyses, validation is also necessary. This paper provides a summary of initial efforts at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to better understand and validate spent fuel analyses for boiling-water-reactor fuel.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computational Physics and Engineering Division
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-96OR22464
OSTI ID:
7629
Report Number(s):
ORNL/CP-103312; 64 70 61 80 1; ON: DE00007629
Resource Relation:
Conference: ICNC '99: 6. International Conference on Nuclear Criticality Safety, Palais des Congres, Versailles (France), 20-24 Sep 1999
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English