Fuel Cycle Characteristics Research Articles

Fissile fuel dynamics of breeder/converter reactors

The long-term fissile fuel dynamics for a hierarchy of fission reactors covering the range from pure-burners to super-breeders is examined. It is found that the breeding gains of the core and blanket can be used to identify several distinct fissile fuel histories and elucidate the importance of fuel cycle characteristics such as the time dependence of the fissile fuel doubling time. On this basis, then, a self-sufficient fission reactor is introduced and its determining characteristics are identified.