A conceptual design for a generic heavy water research reactor to a more proliferation-resistant reactor

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary neutronic conceptual design for a heavy water research reactor core substituting low-enriched uranium fuel for natural uranium dioxide fuel; focusing on reducing the amount of plutonium in the spent fuel. In this study, two core models are proposed and investigated. These result in a smaller core configuration and consequently less plutonium inventory at the end of the cycle. Parameters such as multiplication factors, fuel burn-up, and radial power peaking factor are calculated by the MCNPX2.6 code. The results show that in converted reactor cores the mass of plutonium is decreased about 85% comparing to the main core without substantial changes in the core and fuel dimension.