procedures for the operation of using thorium as breeding material and enriched uranium as fuel power breeder reactor

摘要

1,050,608. Nuclear reactors; treatment of spent nuclear fuel. GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION. June 23, 1965 [July 20, 1964], No. 26542/65. Headings G6C and G6R. In a thorium-uranium 233 breeding nuclear reactor, the fuel is segregated into units containing uranium and units containing thorium; a portion of the spent fuel is removed, separated into its components, and reprocessed to remove fission products, neptunium and uranium 236; recovered uranium 233, thorium, and enriched uranium are then formed into separable components and returned to the reactor for the next cycle. The fuel may be in the form of spheroidal particles, some of which are coated and others of which are not coated or have a different coating, so that separation may be effected by dissolving one component; for example particles of one component may be coated with pyrolytic graphite. U233 is recovered from the thorium portion of the fuel and used in a subsequent cycle; thorium is recovered if desired. Fissile U235 is recovered from the other portion of the fuel. The reactor may be of the high temperature, graphite moderated, helium cooled type.