MOX and MOX with 237Np/241Am Inert Fission Gas Generation Comparison in ATR
The treatment of spent fuel produced in nuclear power generation is one of the most important issues to both the nuclear community and the general public. One of the viable options to long-term geological disposal of spent fuel is to extract plutonium, minor actinides (MA), and potentially long-lived fission products from the spent fuel and transmute them into short-lived or stable radionuclides in currently operating light-water reactors (LWR), thus reducing the radiological toxicity of the nuclear waste stream. One of the challenges is to demonstrate that the burnup-dependent characteristic differences between Reactor-Grade Mixed Oxide (RG-MOX) fuel and RG-MOX fuel with MA Np-237 and Am 241 are minimal, particularly, the inert gas generation rate, such that the commercial MOX fuel experience base is applicable. Under the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), developmental fuel specimens in experimental assembly LWR-2 are being tested in the northwest (NW) I-24 irradiation position of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). The experiment uses MOX fuel test hardware, and contains capsules with MOX fuel consisting of mixed oxide manufactured fuel using reactor grade plutonium (RG-Pu) and mixed oxide manufactured fuel using RG-Pu with added Np/Am. This study will compare the fuel neutronics depletion characteristics of Case-1 RG-MOX and Case-2 RG-MOX with Np/Am.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 911576
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-06-01097; TRN: US0800017
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ANS Annual Meeting,Reno, NV,06/04/2006,06/08/2006
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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