Burn up extension in a PBMR-400 full core using weapon grade plutonium fuel mixed with thorium

Acir A., Coskun H.

KERNTECHNIK, cilt.76, sa.5, ss.337-340, 2011 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 76 Sayı: 5
  • Basım Tarihi: 2011
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3139/124.110170
  • Dergi Adı: KERNTECHNIK
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.337-340
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In this study, the time dependent criticality and burn up analyses for a full core model of Pebble Bed Modular Reactors, such as PBMR-400, are performed using weapon grade plutonium mixed with thorium as an alternative to enriched UO(2) fuel. Neutronic calculations are performed with the MCNP and MONTEBURNS 2.0 using ENDF/B-V nuclear data library 9.6% enriched UO(2) gives an effective multiplication factor of k(eff) approximate to 1.2395, which can be achieved by 18% weapon grade plutonium +82% ThO(2) fuel mixture. Thorium mixed fuel with 18% weapon grade plutonium fuel would allow reactor operation periods 7 years without fuel change with burn up levels of 205 000 MW.D/t, for end of life k(eff) set equal to 1.02.