Optimization of FA Reloading in the IR-8 Reactor

Abstract

The possibility of increasing 235U burnup in IRT-3M FA to 68% is examined for the example of equilibrium operating cycles of IR-8 and optimization of fuel reloading in the core is proposed. This decreases the yearly consumption of FA by 10%. The reloading with fresh FA in the peripheral instead of central cells, which is simpler from the standpoint of implementation, almost does not reduce the reactivity excess and does not shorten the operating cycle of the reactor, but it does reduce the nuclear hazardous work in the core by 25%. A computational analysis is performed with the aid of the certified Monte Carlo code MCUPTR. The results of this work can be used in the IRT-MIFI (Moscow) and IRT-T (Tomsk) research reactors.