Neutronic and burn-up calculations of heterogeneous Thorium/Uranium fuel in pressurized water reactors
-
B. Foad
, H. Mansour and M. Aziz
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to study the feasibility of the Thorium/Uranium fuel cycle in heterogeneous Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) core design. This paper focuses on the neutronic and burn-up analysis of the Thorium/Uranium fuel using the computer codes MCNPX and WIMS. The design is based on the Whole Assembly Seed and Blanket (WASB) concept, in which the individual seed (Uranium) and blanket (Thorium-Uranium) units occupy one full-size PWR assembly in a checkerboard core configuration. The results of the present models were compared with the solution of benchmark problems and satisfactory agreement was found.
Kurzfassung
Zweck dieser Arbeit ist eine Machbarkeitsstudie zum Thorium/Uran Brennstoffkreislaufs in Druckwasserreaktoren. Die Arbeit konzentriert sich auf Neutronen- und Abbrandberechnungen von Thorium/Uran Brennstoff mit Hilfe der Computer Codes MCNPX and WIMS. Der Aufbau basiert auf dem Whole Assembly Seed and Blanket (WASB) Konzept, bei dem die einzelnen Seed-(Uranium) und Blanket-(Thorium-Uran) Einheiten eine volle PWR Anordnung in einer vertikal versetzten Kernkonfiguration besetzen. Die Ergebnisse der derzeitigen Modelle wurden verglichen mit der Lösung von Benchmark-Problemen mit befriedigender Übereinstimmung.
References
1 IAEA: Thorium Fuel Utilization: Options and Trends. IAEATECDOC-1319, November 2002Search in Google Scholar
2 Bae, K. M.; Kim, M. H.: Core Design for Heterogeneous Thorium Fuel Assemblies for PWR (I)-Nuclear Design and Fuel Cycle Economy. Nuclear Engineering and Technology37 (2005)Search in Google Scholar
3 MacDonald, P. E.: Advanced Proliferation Resistant, Lower Cost, Uranium-Thorium Dioxide Fuels For Light Water Reactors. INEEL/EXT-02-01411, September 200210.2172/910948Search in Google Scholar
4 IAEA: Thorium fuel cycle – Potential benefits and challenges. IAEATECDOC-1450, May 2005Search in Google Scholar
5 Dziadosz, D.; Ake, T. N.; Saglam, M.; Sapyta, J. J.: Weapons-Grade Plutonium-Thorium PWR Assembly Design and Core Safety Analysis. Nuclear Technology147 (2004) 69Search in Google Scholar
6 Todosow, M.; Kazimi, M. S.: Optimization of Heterogeneous Utilization of Thorium in PWRs to Enhance Proliferation Resistance and Reduce Waste. MIT-NFC-065, August 200410.2172/15009919Search in Google Scholar
7 Todosow, M.: Once-Through Thorium Cycle for Light Water Reactors (LWRs). INCS News, 21st Issue, Volume VI, Number 1, January 2009Search in Google Scholar
8 Busse, M.; Kazimi, M. S.: Thermal and Economic Analysis of Thorium-Based Seed-Blanket Fuel cycles for nuclear power Plants. MIT-NFC-TR-025, August 2000Search in Google Scholar
9 Wang, D.; Kazimi, M. S.; Driscoll, M. J.; Pilat, E. E.: “Optimization of the Thorium-Uranium Seed and Blanket Core for PWR”, Global 2003 New Orleans, LA November 16–20, 2003Search in Google Scholar
10 Hendricks, J. S.et al.: MCNPX 2.6.0. LA-UR-08-2216 Los Alamos National Lab., U. S. A., April 2008Search in Google Scholar
11 Halsall, M. J.; Taubman, C. J.: WIMS-D5 A Neutronics Code for Standard Lattice Physics Analysis. EA-1507/04, June 1997Search in Google Scholar
12 Wang, D.; Driscoll, M. J.; Kazimi, M. S.; Pilat, E. E.: A Heterogeneous Th/U Core for Improved PWR and Spent Fuel Characteristics. ICAPP, Florida 2002Search in Google Scholar
13 Wang, D.: Optimization of a Seed and Blanket Thorium-Uranium Fuel Cycle for PWRs. PhD Thesis, MIT Nuclear Engineering Department, 2003Search in Google Scholar
© 2010, Carl Hanser Verlag, München
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- Integrated online condition monitoring system for nuclear power plants
- Performance analysis of 233U for fixed bed nuclear reactors
- 3D thermal hydraulic simulation of the hot channel of a typical material testing reactor under normal operation conditions
- Analysis of the processes in the target cooling system of the W7-X fusion experiment
- Nuclear model calculation on charged particle induced reactions to produce 85Sr for diagnostic and endotherapy
- Neutronic and burn-up calculations of heterogeneous Thorium/Uranium fuel in pressurized water reactors
- Research on pitting corrosion of steam generator heat transfer tubes based on acoustic emission
- Application of the Chebyshev polynomial (TN and UN) approximation to reflected slab geometry in the neutron transport equation and computation of critical half thicknesses
- UN approximation to critical slab problem for one-speed neutrons with isotropic, forward and backward scattering
- The albedo problem for pure-quadratic anisotropic scattering with İnönü scattering
- Technical Notes/Technische Mitteilungen
- Targetry of Y2O3 on a copper substrate for the non-carrier-added 89Zr production via 89Y(p, n)89Zr reaction
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- Integrated online condition monitoring system for nuclear power plants
- Performance analysis of 233U for fixed bed nuclear reactors
- 3D thermal hydraulic simulation of the hot channel of a typical material testing reactor under normal operation conditions
- Analysis of the processes in the target cooling system of the W7-X fusion experiment
- Nuclear model calculation on charged particle induced reactions to produce 85Sr for diagnostic and endotherapy
- Neutronic and burn-up calculations of heterogeneous Thorium/Uranium fuel in pressurized water reactors
- Research on pitting corrosion of steam generator heat transfer tubes based on acoustic emission
- Application of the Chebyshev polynomial (TN and UN) approximation to reflected slab geometry in the neutron transport equation and computation of critical half thicknesses
- UN approximation to critical slab problem for one-speed neutrons with isotropic, forward and backward scattering
- The albedo problem for pure-quadratic anisotropic scattering with İnönü scattering
- Technical Notes/Technische Mitteilungen
- Targetry of Y2O3 on a copper substrate for the non-carrier-added 89Zr production via 89Y(p, n)89Zr reaction