Neutronics design for molten salt accelerator-driven system as TRU burner

Abstract

Treatment of plutonium separated from spent fuel has been one of the most important issues in the utilization of nuclear power in Japan. This study investigates a molten salt accelerator-driven system (ADS) to transmute transuranic (TRU) nuclides to address the issue. This study proposes the MARDS (Molten salt AcceleratoR Driven System) concept which has four features: employment of chloride, no dedicated spallation target, non-contact between beam window and fuel salt and modularized core. Neutronics calculation for the MARDS concept was performed for a condition of 400 MW thermal power with 800 MeV proton beam. The calculation results showed that the maximum proton beam current was about 7 mA and about 100–120 kg plutonium could be transmuted during one-year operation. The result indicates that the MARDS concept can employ a circular accelerator instead of LINAC and transmute TRU effectively.