Proliferation Resistance Evaluation of ACR-1000 Fuel with Minor Actinides. 2nd International Science and Technology Forum on Protected Plutonium Utilization of Peace and Sustainable Properity (Preprint)

摘要

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program is to significantly advance the science and technology of nuclear energy systems and to enhance the spent fuel proliferation resistance. It consists of both innovative nuclear reactors and innovative research in separation and transmutation. The merits of nuclear energy are high-density energy, with low environmental impacts (i.e. almost zero greenhouse gas emission). Planned efforts involve near-term and intermediate-term improvements in fuel utilization and recycling in current light water reactors (LWRs) as well as the longer-term development of new nuclear energy systems that offer much improved fuel utilization and proliferation resistance, along with continued advances in operational safety. For future advanced nuclear systems, minor actinides (MA) are viewed more as a resource to be recycled, and transmuted to less hazardous and possibly more useful forms, rather than simply disposed of as a waste stream in an expensive repository facility. MAs can play a much larger part in the design of advanced systems and fuel cycles, not only as additional sources of useful energy, but also as direct contributors to the reactivity control of the systems into which they are incorporated. In this work, an Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) fuel unit lattice cell model with 43 UO2 fuel rods will be used to investigate the effectiveness of a Minor Actinide Reduction Approach (MARA) for enhancing proliferation resistance and improving the fuel cycle performance. The main MARA objective is to increase the 238Pu / Pu isotope ratio by using the transuranic nuclides (237Np and 241Am) in the high burnup fuel and thereby increase the proliferation resistance even for a very low fuel burnup. As a result, MARA is a very effective approach to enhance the proliferation resistance for the on power refueling ACR system nuclear fuel. The MA transmutation characteristics at different MA loadings were compared and their impact on neutronics criticality assessed. The concept of MARA, significantly increases the 238Pu/Pu ratio for proliferation resistance, as well as serves as a burnable absorber to hold-down the initial excess reactivity. It is believed that MARA can play an important role in atoms for peace and the intermediate term of nuclear energy reconnaissance.