Actinide minimization using pressurized water reactors

Transuranic actinides dominate the long-term radiotoxity in spent LWR fuel. In an open fuel cycle, they impose a long-term burden on geologic repositories. Transmuting these materials in reactor systems is one way to ease the long-term burden on the repository. Examining the maximum possible burning of trans-uranic elements in Combined Non-Fertile and U02 (CONFU) PWR assemblies is evaluated. These assemblies are composed of a mix of standard U02 fuel pins and pins made of recycled trans-uranics (TRU) in an inert matrix, and are designed to fit in current or future PWRs. Applying appropriate limits on the neutronic and thermal safety parameters, a CONFU-Burndown (CONFU-B) assembly design is shown to attain net TRU destruction in each fuel batch through at least 9 recycles. This represents a time span of nearly 100 years of in-core residence and out-of-core storage time. In this way, when the TRU is multi-recycled, only fission products and separation/reprocessing losses are sent to the repository, and the initial inventory of TRU is reduced over time. Thus, LWRs are able to eventually operate in a fuel cycle system with an inventory of transuranic actinides much lower than that accumulated to date. Three recycling strategies are considered, all using a 4.5-year in core irradiation, followed by cooling and reprocessing. The three strategies involve a short-term cooling (6-year) after discharge, a longer-term cooling (16.5-year) after discharge, or a strategy called Remix. The Remix strategy involves partitioning the Pu/Np after 6-year cooling for immediate recycle, and partitioning the Am/Cm for an additional 10.5-year cooling before remixing it into the next CONFU-B batch. At equilibrium, the CONFU-B can burn approximately 1.5 kg to 10.0 kg of TRU per TWhe depending on the recycle strategy used.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Visosky, Mark Michael

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mujid S. Kazimi.

• Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/41276

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/41276