Ultra-Long-Life Fast Reactor Cores having Axial Blanket-Driver-Blanket Burnup Strategy with Thorium and PWR Spent Fuels

摘要

In this work, several different options using TRU and uranium from PWR spent fuel with addition of thorium for small ultra-long-life sodium cooled core having axial blanket-driver-blanket configuration are considered to efficiently use the PWR spent fuel stocks. Specifically, the addition of thorium both into the driver and blanket fuels are considered to reduce burnup reactivity swing and sodium void reactivity worth at the high burnup with core design simplification. From the results of the core design and analyses, it can be concluded that it is possible to design the ultra-long-life cores using thorium and uranium mixed fuels both in driver and blanket having improved performances.