Assessment of Core Physics Characteristics of Extended Enrichment and Higher Burnup LWR Fuels using the Polaris/PARCS Two-Step Approach (Vol. 2: BWR Fuel)

Research output: Book/ReportCommissioned report

Abstract

Nuclear fuel vendors and utilities are currently investigating changes to fuel contents and fuel designs for more economical and safer reactor operations. Extending cycle lengths beyond 18-month cycles for pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and 24-month cycles for boiling water reactors (BWRs) requires extending fuel enrichments beyond the current 5 wt % 235U limit. Therefore, low-enriched uranium plus (LEU+) fuel is expected to be used in current light-water reactor fleets in the near term. LEU+ is a subset of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and is a term to describe fuel enrichments above 5% up to 10%. A series of studies were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to compare low-enriched uranium (LEU) with LEU+ fuel with respect to isotopic fuel content, lattice parameters, and core physics to identify any challenges in operation, storage, and transportation.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationUnited States
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

Keywords

  • 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Assessment of Core Physics Characteristics of Extended Enrichment and Higher Burnup LWR Fuels using the Polaris/PARCS Two-Step Approach (Vol. 2: BWR Fuel)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this