Sensitivity analysis of minor actinides transmutation to physical and technological parameters
| Autor: | Timothée Kooyman, L. Buiron |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | amplexor, amplexor, CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire) (CEA-DES (ex-DEN)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Département Etude des Réacteurs (DER), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
[PHYS.NUCL] Physics [physics]/Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]
minor actinides Nuclear transmutation [PHYS.NUCL]Physics [physics]/Nuclear Theory [nucl-th] [PHYS.NEXP] Physics [physics]/Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex] 020209 energy Nuclear engineering fuel cycle chemistry.chemical_element Americium 02 engineering and technology [PHYS.NEXP]Physics [physics]/Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex] 7. Clean energy 01 natural sciences [SPI]Engineering Sciences [physics] sensitivity analysis 0103 physical sciences 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Decay heat 010308 nuclear & particles physics Radioactive waste Actinide lcsh:TK9001-9401 Transmutation Spent nuclear fuel chemistry Deep geological repository Environmental science Neutron source lcsh:Nuclear engineering. Atomic power |
| Zdroj: | Global 2015 Global 2015, Sep 2015, Paris, France EPJ N-Nuclear Sciences & Technologies EPJ N-Nuclear Sciences & Technologies, 2015, 1 (15), ⟨10.1051/epjn/e2015-50055-0⟩ EPJ Nuclear Sciences & Technologies, Vol 1, p 15 (2015) EPJ N-Nuclear Sciences & Technologies, EDP Sciences, 2015, 1 (15), ⟨10.1051/epjn/e2015-50055-0⟩ |
| ISSN: | 2491-9292 |
| Popis: | International audience; Minor actinides transmutation is one of the three main axis defined by the 2006 French law for management of nuclear waste, along with long-term storage and use of a deep geological repository. Transmutation options for critical systems can be divided in two different approaches: (a) homogeneous transmutation, in which minor actinides are mixed with the fuel. This exhibits the drawback of “polluting” the entire fuel cycle with minor actinides and also has an important impact on core reactivity coefficients such as Doppler Effect or sodium void worth for fast reactors when the minor actinides fraction increases above 3 to 5% depending on the core; (b) heterogeneous transmutation, in which minor actinides are inserted into transmutation targets which can be located in the center or in the periphery of the core. This presents the advantage of decoupling the management of the minor actinides from the conventional fuel and not impacting the core reactivity coefficients. In both cases, the design and analyses of potential transmutation systems have been carried out in the frame of Gen IV fast reactor using a “perturbation” approach in which nominal power reactor parameters are modified to accommodate the loading of minor actinides. However, when designing such a transmutation strategy, parameters from all steps of the fuel cycle must be taken into account, such as spent fuel heat load, gamma or neutron sources or fabrication feasibility. Considering a multi-recycling strategy of minor actinides, an analysis of relevant estimators necessary to fully analyze a transmutation strategy has been performed in this work and a sensitivity analysis of these estimators to a broad choice of reactors and fuel cycle parameters has been carried out. No threshold or percolation effects were observed. Saturation of transmutation rate with regards to several parameters has been observed, namely the minor actinides volume fraction and the irradiation time. Estimators of interest that have been derived from this approach include the maximum neutron source and decay heat load acceptable at reprocessing and fabrication steps, which influence among other things the total minor actinides inventory, the overall complexity of the cycle and the size of the geological repository. Based on this analysis, a new methodology to assess transmutation strategies is proposed. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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