Influence of Nuclear Data Uncertainties on Thorium Fusion-Fission Hybrid Blanket Nucleonic Performance

摘要

The fusion-fission hybrid blanket proposed for the Tandem Mirror Hybrid Reactor employs thorium metal as the fertile material. Based on the ENDF/B-IV nuclear data, the exp 233 U and tritium production rate and blanket energy multiplication averaged over the blanket lifetime of about 9 MW-yr/m exp 2 are 0.76 and 1.12 per D-T neutron and 4.8, respectively. At the time of the blanket discharge, the exp 233 U enrichment in the thorium metal is about 3%. The thorium cross sections given by the ENDF/B-IV and V were reviewed, and the important partial cross sections such as (n,2n), (n,3n), and (n, gamma ) were found to be known to +-10 to 20% in the respective energy range of interest. A sensitivity study showed that the exp 233 U and tritium production rate and blanket energy multiplication are relatively sensitive to the thorium capture and fission cross section uncertainties. In order to predict the above parameters within +-1%, the Th(n, gamma ) and Th(n, nu f) cross sections must be measured within about +-2% in the energy range 3 to 3000 keV and 13.5 to 15 MeV, respectively. (ERA citation 05:003915)