COMPARISON OF THORIUM AND URANIUM FUEL PERFORMANCE IN VVER-1000 REACTOR

摘要

Thorium can be considered as an alternative to uranium fuel. This analysis deals with ThO_2 fuel for Pressurized-Water Reactor VVER-1000 and its comparison to UO_2. Operational and spent fuel characteristics are considered. The main advantage of thorium is limited production of minor actinides and its greater abundance in nature. Problem of thorium utilization is absence of a fissile nuclide in the natural thorium, thus thorium fuel needs to be supported by an added fissile material. Addition of ~(233)U and low-enriched uranium with 19.75 % enrichment is considered. The analysis is carried out using ANDREA nodal code with diffusion data prepared by HELIOS calculations.