Minor Actinides Loading Optimization for Proliferation Resistant Fuel Design - BWR

Conference · Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 EDT 2009

OSTI ID:968569

Chang, Gray S. ^[1]; Zhang, Hongbin ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

One approach to address the United States Nuclear Power (NP) 2010 program for the advanced light water reactor (LWR) (Gen-III+) intermediate-term spent fuel disposal need is to reduce spent fuel storage volume while enhancing proliferation resistance. One proposed solution includes increasing burnup of the discharged spent fuel and mixing minor actinide (MA) transuranic nuclides (²³⁷Np and ²⁴¹Am) in the high burnup fuel. Thus, we can reduce the spent fuel volume while increasing the proliferation resistance by increasing the isotopic ratio of ²³⁸Pu/Pu. For future advanced nuclear systems, MAs are viewed more as a resource to be recycled and transmuted to less hazardous and possibly more useful forms, rather than simply disposed of as a waste stream in an expensive repository facility. MAs play a much larger part in the design of advanced systems and fuel cycles, not only as additional sources of useful energy, but also as direct contributors to the reactivity control of the systems into which they are incorporated. A typical boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel unit lattice cell model with UO₂ fuel pins will be used to investigate the effectiveness of adding MAs (²³⁷Np and/or ²⁴¹Am) to enhance proliferation resistance and improve fuel cycle performance for the intermediate-term goal of future nuclear energy systems. However, adding MAs will increase plutonium production in the discharged spent fuel. In this work, the Monte-Carlo coupling with ORIGEN-2.2 (MCWO) method was used to optimize the MA loading in the UO₂ fuel such that the discharged spent fuel demonstrates enhanced proliferation resistance, while minimizing plutonium production. The axial averaged MA transmutation characteristics at different burnup were compared and their impact on neutronics criticality and the ratio of ²³⁸Pu/Pu discussed.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 968569
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-09-15835
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ACTINIDES
Advanced Test Reactor (ATR)
BOILING
BURNUP
Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)
CRITICALITY
DESIGN
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL PINS
Fuel Pins
Fuel Unit Lattice Cell Model
ISOTOPES
Light Water Reactor (LWR)
Minor Actinide (MA)
NUCLEAR ENERGY
NUCLEAR POWER
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
OPTIMIZATION
PLUTONIUM
PRODUCTION
PROLIFERATION
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
SPENT FUELS
Spent Fuel Volume
TRANSMUTATION
Transuranic Nuclides
WASTES