Deep-Burn Modular Helium Reactor Fuel Development Plan
This document contains the workscope, schedule and cost for the technology development tasks needed to satisfy the fuel and fission product transport Design Data Needs (DDNs) for the Gas Turbine-Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR), operating in its role of transmuting transuranic (TRU) nuclides in spent fuel discharged from commercial light-water reactors (LWRs). In its application for transmutation, the GT-MHR is referred to as the Deep-Burn MHR (DB-MHR). This Fuel Development Plan (FDP) describes part of the overall program being undertaken by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), utilities, and industry to evaluate the use of the GT-MHR to transmute transuranic nuclides from spent nuclear fuel. The Fuel Development Plan (FDP) includes the work on fuel necessary to support the design and licensing of the DB-MHR. The FDP is organized into ten sections. Section 1 provides a summary of the most important features of the plan, including cost and schedule information. Section 2 describes the DB-MHR concept, the features of its fuel and the plan to develop coated particle fuel for transmutation. Section 3 describes the knowledge base for fabrication of coated particles, the experience with irradiation performance of coated particle fuels, the database for fission product transport in HTGR cores, and describes test data and calculations for the performance of coated particle fuel while in a repository. Section 4 presents the fuel performance requirements in terms of as-manufactured quality and performance of the fuel coatings under irradiation and accident conditions. These requirements are provisional because the design of the DB-MHR is in an early stage. However, the requirements are presented in this preliminary form to guide the initial work on the fuel development. Section 4 also presents limits on the irradiation conditions to which the coated particle fuel can be subjected for the core design. These limits are based on past irradiation experience. Section 5 describes the Design Data Needs to: (1) fabricate the coated particle fuel, (2) predict its performance in the reactor core, (3) predict the radionuclide release rates from the reactor core, and (4) predict the performance of spent fuel in a geological repository. The heart of this fuel development plan is Section 6, which describes the development activities proposed to satisfy the DDNs presented in Section 5. The development scope is divided into Fuel Process Development, Fuel Materials Development, Fission Product Transport, and Spent Fuel Disposal. Section 7 describes the facilities to be used. Generally, this program will utilize existing facilities. While some facilities will need to be modified, there is no requirement for major new facilities. Section 8 states the Quality Assurance requirements that will be applied to the development activities. Section 9 presents detailed costs organized by WBS and spread over time. Section 10 presents a list of the types of deliverables that will be prepared in each of the WBS elements. Four Appendices contain supplementary information on: (a) design data needs, (b) the interface with the separations plant, (c) the detailed development schedule, and (d) the detailed cost estimate.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 885771
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2002/135; TRN: US0604097
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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