ATW neutronics design studies

Abstract

The Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) concept has been proposed as a transuranics (TRU) (and long-lived fission product) incinerator for processing the 87,000 metric tonnes of Light Water Reactor (LWR) used fuel which will have been generated by the time the currently deployed fleet of commercial reactors in the US reach the end of their licensed lifetime. The ATW is proposed to separate the uranium from the transuranics and fission products in the LWR used fuel, to fission the transuranics, to send the LWR and ATW generated fission products to the geologic repository and to send the uranium to either a low level waste disposal site or to save it for future use. The heat liberated in fissioning the transuranics would be converted to electricity and sold to partially offset the cost of ATW construction and operations. Options for incineration of long-lived fission products are under evaluation. A six-year science-based program of ATW trade and system studies was initiated in the US FY 2000 to achieve two main purposes: (1) “to evaluate ATW within the framework of nonproliferation, waste management, and economic considerations,” and (2) “to evaluate the efficacy of the numerous technical options for ATW system configuration.” This paper summarizes the results from neutronics and thermal/hydraulics trade studies which were completed at Argonne National Laboratory during the first year of the program. Core designs were developed for Pb-Bi eutectic (LBE) cooled and Na cooled 840 MW th fast spectrum transmuter designs employing recycle. Additionally, neutronics analyses were performed at Argonne for a He cooled 600 MW th hybrid thermal and fast core design proposed by General Atomics Co. which runs critical for 3 4 and subcritical for 1 4 of its four year once-thru burn cycle. The mass flows and the ultimate loss of transuranic isotopes to the waste stream per unit of heat generated during transmutation have been calculated on a consistent basis and are compared. (Long-lived fission product incineration has not been considered in the studies reported here.)