Preliminary study on TRU transmutation in VVER-1000 fuel assembly using MCNP6

Abstract

Abstract Transmutation technology has been developed to address the issue of long-term safety of nuclear waste disposal in geological repository. Transuranic (TRU) transmutation in thermal neutron spectrum can be considered more beneficial at the present time due to the larger fission cross section of TRU elements than in fast neutron spectrum. This paper discusses preliminary study on TRU transmutation in Vodo-Vodyanoi Energetichesky Reactor (VVER)-1000 fuel assembly using MCNP6 code. The fuel assembly is configured by 312 fuel cells consist of 300 UO2 fuel rods with 3.7 wt% 235U and 12 UGD fuel rods containing a mixture of UO2 with 3.6 wt% 235U and 4.0 wt% Gd2O3. The calculation results show that the k inf value is higher with the increase in the TRU thickness at the beginning of cycle and at the end of cycle, which means that the addition of TRU will increase the fuel cycle length. The total temperature coefficient of reactivity is negative for all fuel assemblies both without TRU and with TRU. In general, the computed β eff values of the assembly with and without TRU addition are not significantly different. It shows that the coating of the TRU layer in the UGD fuel cell will not complicate the reactor control. The transmutation of TRU recycled from spent nuclear fuel in the VVER-1000 fuel assembly can be considered feasible from the viewpoint of excess reactivity and control safety characteristics. The total transmutation rate of ∼55.73% can be achieved with 239Pu and 241Am isotopes are taking the largest portion of transmuted nuclides.