Preliminary Studies of ATW Multiple Strata Fuel Cycle Performance.

摘要

Two primary goals have been identified for the multiple strata system studies: (1) reduce the number of ATW systems required to complete the mission, and (2) enhance the performance of the final strata ATW system. For the first strata, both a fast-spectrum advanced liquid metal reactor (LMR) and a thermal-spectrum gas-cooled reactor (GT-MHR) were evaluated; and both nonfertile and fertile fuel forms were considered. For this study, the focus was on fuel cycle options where the LWR transuranics (plutonium and minor actinides) remain mixed to alleviate proliferation concerns. Fuel cycle analyses were conducted for once through and single recycle fuel management in the first strata reactor system. Preliminary results show that the multiple strata options realize the primary goal of partial TRU consumption prior to the ATW campaign. In both systems, approximately 30% of the TRU mass was consumed in the once-through first strata irradiation. However, it was shown to be quite difficult to achieve improved ATW performance; only small impacts on the burnup swing (1-2% k) were observed with significant penalties in ATW discharge burnup.