Comparison of Pressurized Water Reactor Core Characteristics for 100% Plutonium-Containing Loadings

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The large quantities of reactor-grade (RG) and weapons-grade (WG) Pu accumulated worldwide could be reduced by employing 100% mixed-oxide (MOX) cores in light water reactors. The buildup of new Pu from the U present in the MOX, however, remains disadvantageous from the viewpoint of inventory reduction and also enhances the need for multiple recycling. A more effective way would be to use U-free fuel so that no new Pu is produced.A comparison is made, from the physics design viewpoint, between the potential and the possible difficulties for two different types of Pu-burning pressurized water reactor cores, namely, 100% MOX and 100% uranium-free Pu fuel. The latter employs ZrO2 as inert matrix and Er2O3 as burnable poison. In each case, RG and WG Pu have been considered separately. The characteristics of the four different cores have been studied on the basis of three-dimensional calculations for an equilibrium cycle, a real-life UO2-fueled core being considered as reference for comparison purposes....

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: