Proliferation resistant fuel for pebble bed modular reactors

Yigal Ronen, Menashe Aboudy, Dror Regev, Erez Gilad

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

Abstract

We show that it is possible to denature the Plutonium produced in Pebble Bed Modular Reactors (PBMR) by doping the nuclear fuel with either 3050 ppm of 237Np or 2100 ppm of Am vector. A correct choice of these isotopes concentration yields denatured Plutonium with isotopic ratio 238Pu/Pu ≥ 6%, for the entire fuel burnup cycle. The penalty for introducing these isotopes into the nuclear fuel is a subsequent shortening of the fuel burnup cycle, with respect to a non-doped reference fuel, by 41.2 Full Power Days (FPDs) and 19.9 FPDs, respectively, which correspond to 4070 MWd/ton and 1965 MWd/ton reduction in fuel discharge burnup.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationInternational Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012, PHYSOR 2012
Subtitle of host publicationAdvances in Reactor Physics
Pages1738-1748
Number of pages11
StatePublished - 6 Dec 2012
EventInternational Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012: Advances in Reactor Physics, PHYSOR 2012 - Knoxville, TN, United States
Duration: 15 Apr 201220 Apr 2012

Publication series

NameInternational Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012, PHYSOR 2012: Advances in Reactor Physics
Volume2

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on the Physics of Reactors 2012: Advances in Reactor Physics, PHYSOR 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityKnoxville, TN
Period15/04/1220/04/12

Keywords

  • Americium
  • BGCore
  • Neptunium
  • PBMR
  • Proliferation resistant fuel

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering

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