Minor actinide recycle in sodium cooled fast reactors using heterogeneous targets

Samuel Bays, Pavel Medvedev, Michael Pope, Rodolfo Ferrer, Mehdi Asgari, Benoit Forget

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper investigates the plausible design of transmutation target assemblies for minor actinides (MA) in Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR). A heterogeneous recycling strategy is investigated, whereby after each reactor pass, un-burned MAs from the targets are blended with MAs produced by the driver fuel and additional MAs from Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). A design iteration methodology was adopted for customizing the core design, target assembly design and matrix composition design. The overall design was constrained against allowable peak or maximum in-core performances. While respecting these criteria, the overall design was adjusted to reduce the total number of assemblies fabricated per refueling cycle. It was found that an inert metal-hydride MA-Zr-Hx target matrix gave the highest transmutation efficiency, thus allowing for the least number of targets to be fabricated per reactor cycle.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAmerican Nuclear Society - 4th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management 2009, ANFM IV
Pages429-445
Number of pages17
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
EventAmerican Nuclear Society - 4th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management 2009, ANFM IV - Hilton Head Island, SC, United States
Duration: Apr 12 2009Apr 15 2009

Publication series

NameAmerican Nuclear Society - 4th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management 2009, ANFM IV
Volume1

Conference

ConferenceAmerican Nuclear Society - 4th Topical Meeting on Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management 2009, ANFM IV
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHilton Head Island, SC
Period04/12/0904/15/09

Keywords

  • Heterogeneous recycle
  • Minor actinide
  • Moderated targets
  • Transmutation

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