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Title: Code Analyses Supporting PIE of Weapons-Grade MOX Fuel

Abstract

The U.S. Department of energy has decided to dispose of a portion of the nation's surplus weapons-grade plutonium by reconstituting it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel and irradiating the fuel in commercial power reactors. Four lead test assemblies (LTAs) were manufactured with weapons-grade mixed oxide (WG-MOX) fuel and irradiated in the Catawba Nuclear Station Unit 1, to a maximum fuel rod burnup of ~47.3 GWd/MTHM. As part of the fuel qualification process, five rods with varying burnups and initial plutonium contents were selected from one assembly and shipped to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for hot cell examination. ORNL has provided analytical support for the post-irradiation examination (PIE) of these rods via extensive fuel performance modeling which has aided in instrument settings and PIE data interpretation. The results of these fuel performance simulations are compared in this paper with available PIE data.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. ORNL
  2. AREVA Federal Services LLC
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
993448
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 2010 LWR Fuel Performance/TopFuel/WRFPM, Orlando, FL, USA, 20100926, 20100929
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; BURNUP; FUEL RODS; HOT CELLS; ORNL; OXIDES; PERFORMANCE; PLUTONIUM; POST-IRRADIATION EXAMINATION; POWER REACTORS; SIMULATION; Weapons Grade MOX Fuel Fissile Materials

Citation Formats

Ott, Larry J, Bevard, Bruce Balkcom, Spellman, Donald J, and McCoy, Kevin. Code Analyses Supporting PIE of Weapons-Grade MOX Fuel. United States: N. p., 2010. Web.
Ott, Larry J, Bevard, Bruce Balkcom, Spellman, Donald J, & McCoy, Kevin. Code Analyses Supporting PIE of Weapons-Grade MOX Fuel. United States.
Ott, Larry J, Bevard, Bruce Balkcom, Spellman, Donald J, and McCoy, Kevin. 2010. "Code Analyses Supporting PIE of Weapons-Grade MOX Fuel". United States.
@article{osti_993448,
title = {Code Analyses Supporting PIE of Weapons-Grade MOX Fuel},
author = {Ott, Larry J and Bevard, Bruce Balkcom and Spellman, Donald J and McCoy, Kevin},
abstractNote = {The U.S. Department of energy has decided to dispose of a portion of the nation's surplus weapons-grade plutonium by reconstituting it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel and irradiating the fuel in commercial power reactors. Four lead test assemblies (LTAs) were manufactured with weapons-grade mixed oxide (WG-MOX) fuel and irradiated in the Catawba Nuclear Station Unit 1, to a maximum fuel rod burnup of ~47.3 GWd/MTHM. As part of the fuel qualification process, five rods with varying burnups and initial plutonium contents were selected from one assembly and shipped to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for hot cell examination. ORNL has provided analytical support for the post-irradiation examination (PIE) of these rods via extensive fuel performance modeling which has aided in instrument settings and PIE data interpretation. The results of these fuel performance simulations are compared in this paper with available PIE data.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/993448}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2010},
month = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2010}
}

Conference:
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