Design of a sub-critical reactor for transmutation of higher actinides

摘要

To reduce the storage time of spent fuel its radiotoxicity must be reduced through the transmutation of minor actinides. Generation IV reactors or sub-critical Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) are options that appear technically feasible in view of the transmutation goal. The purpose of this work is to design a lead-cooled 400 MWth sub-critical reactor which uses inert matrix nitride fuel. Many design issues are dealt with, such as the lifetime of the cladding material, the minimum reactivity swing fuel composition, the burning rates of MA and the safety coecients. The results obtained show that ADS performs well in transmuting minor actinides and has good safety levels in respect of reactivity perturbations.