| Autor: |
Herring, J. Stephen, MacDonald, Philip E., Weaver, Kevan D. |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Nuclear Technology; Jul2004, Vol. 147 Issue 1, p84-101, 18p, 2 Black and White Photographs, 1 Diagram, 6 Charts, 38 Graphs |
| Abstrakt: |
A light water reactor (LWR) fuel cycle is proposed where the reactor core mainly consists of standard uranium-dioxide (UO2) fuel rods with typical 235U enrichment, along with thoria-urania (ThO2- UO2) or yttria-stablized zirconia fertile-free fuel rods containing the plutonium and minor actinides typical of 30-yr old UO2 fuel in 1/9 to 1/3 of the positions. The goals of this mono-recycling strategy or "twice through fuel cycle" are to transmute the great majority of the long lived actinides in existing LWRs and to discharge a fuel form that is a very robust waste form and whose isotopic content is very proliferation resistant. The incorporation of plutonium into a ThO2 or yttria-stablized zirconia fertile-free matrix results in the consumption of already-separated plutonium without breeding significant additional 239Pu. The minor actinides (i.e., neptunium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, etc.) are also included in the ThO2 or fertile-free transmuter fuel rods to further reduce the overall long-term radiotoxicity of the fuel cycle. Our analyses have shown that thorium-based or fertile-free fuels can reduce the amount of 239Pu needing further transmutation or going to a repository by ∼90%. Also, thorium-based fuels produce a mixture of plutonium isotopes high in 238Pu. Because of the high decay heat and spontaneous neutron generation of 238Pu, this isotope provides intrinsic proliferation resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Supplemental Index |
| Externí odkaz: |
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