Abstract
A spent fuel pool of a typical Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) was evaluated for criticality studies when it uses reprocessed fuels. PWR nuclear fuel assemblies with four types of fuels were considered: standard PWR fuel, MOX fuel, thorium-uranium fuel and reprocessed transuranic fuel spiked with thorium. The MOX and UO2 benchmark model was evaluated using SCALE 6.0 code with KENO-V transport code and then, adopted as a reference for other fuels compositions. The four fuel assemblies were submitted to irradiation at normal operation conditions. The burnup calculations were obtained using the TRITON sequence in the SCALE 6.0 code package. The fuel assemblies modeled use a benchmark 17x17 PWR fuel assembly dimensions. After irradiation, the fuels were inserted in the pool. The criticality safety limits were performed using the KENO-V transport code in the CSAS5 sequence. It was shown that mixing a quarter of reprocessed fuel withUO2 fuel in the pool, it would not need to be resized
Highlights
There has been a continued interest in reprocessing nuclear fuels to recycle useful nuclear materials such as uranium, thorium, and plutonium [1]
Mixed Oxide (MOX), as well as thorium and transuranic spiked with thorium are alternatives to the Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel used in Light Water Reactors (LWRs)
Standard PWR fuel, mixed oxide (MOX), thorium (Th-U)O2 and transuranic fuel spiked with thorium (TRU-Th)O2 from a typical Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) were evaluated
Summary
There has been a continued interest in reprocessing nuclear fuels to recycle useful nuclear materials such as uranium, thorium, and plutonium [1]. Nuclear reactors operate mainly with uranium-plutonium cycle but since the beginning of nuclear power development, thorium was considered as an alternative fuel option for reactors [2]. Mixed Oxide (MOX), as well as thorium and transuranic spiked with thorium are alternatives to the Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel used in Light Water Reactors (LWRs). There has been a revival of interest in the use of thorium in light water reactors because its use in the nuclear fuel could provide longer life cycles and high burnup in the reactors while increasing in-repository durability [3]. MOX has been used to replace UO2 in thermal reactors [5]
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