Study on transmutation efficiency of the VVER-1000 fuel assembly with different minor actinide compositions
Main Article Content
Abstract
The feasibility of transmutation of minor actinides recycled from the spent nuclear fuel in the VVER-1000 LEU (low enriched uranium) fuel assembly as burnable poison was examined in our previous study. However, only the minor actinide vector of the VVER-440 spent fuel was considered. In this paper, various vectors of minor actinides recycled from the spent fuel of VVER-440, PWR-1000, and VVER-1000 reactors were therefore employed in the analysis in order to investigate the minor actinide transmutation efficiency of the VVER-1000 fuel assembly with different minor actinide compositions. The comparative analysis was conducted for the two models of minor actinide loading in the LEU fuel assembly: homogeneous mixing in the UGD (Uranium-Gadolinium) pins and coating a thin layer to the UGD pins. The parameters to be analysed and compared include the reactivity of the LEU fuel assembly versus burnup and the transmutation of minor actinide nuclides when loading different minor actinide vectors into the LEU fuel assembly.
Article Details
Keywords
VVER-1000 LEU fuel assembly, burnable poison, minor actinide transmutation
References
[2]. Robert Jubin, Spent Fuel Reprocessing, Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry and Fuel Cycle Separations Course, Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation, http://www.cresp.org/education/courses/shortcourse/, 2008.
[3]. C.H.M. Broeders, E. Kiefhaber, H.W. Wiese, Burning transuranium isotopes in thermal and fast reactors, Nuclear Engineering and Design 202, 157–172, 2000.
[4]. Z. Perkó, J. L. Kloosterman, S. Fehér, Minor actinide transmutation in GFR600, Nuclear Technology, Vol. 177, No. 1, pp. 83-97, January 2012.
[5]. Timothée Kooyman, Laurent Buiron, Gérald Rimpault, A comparison of curium, neptunium and americium transmutation feasibility, Annals of Nuclear Energy 112 (2018) 748–758, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.09.041.
[6]. H. N. Tran, Y. Kato, New 237Np burning strategy in a supercritical CO2-cooled fast reactor core attaining zero burnup reactivity loss, Nuclear Science Engineering 159, 83-93, 2008.
[7]. H. N. Tran, Y. Kato, P. H. Liem, V. K. Hoang, and S. M. T. Hoang, “Minor actinide transmutation in supercritical-CO2-cooled and sodium-cooled fast reactors with low burnup reactivity swings,” Nuclear Technology, vol. 205, no. 11, pp. 1460–1473, 2019.
[8]. Vladimir Sebian, Vladimir Necas, Petr Darilek, Transmutation of spent fuel in reactor VVER-440, Journal of Electrical Engineering, Vol. 52, No. 9-10, 299-302, 2001.
[9]. B. R. Bergelson, A. S. Gerasimov, G. V. Tikhomirov, Transmutation of actinide in power reactors, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 116, No. 1–4, pp. 675–678, 2005, doi:10.1093/rpd/nci249.
[10]. Eugene Shwageraus, Pavel Hejzlar, Mujid S. Kazimi, A combined nonfertile and UO2 PWR fuel assembly for actinide waste minimization, Nuclear Technology, Vol. 149, March 2005.
[11]. T. A. Taiwo, T. K. Kim, J. A. Stillman, R. N. Hill, M. Salvatores, P. J. Finck, Assessment of a heterogeneous PWR assembly for plutonium and minor actinide recycle, Nuclear Technology, Vol. 155, July 2006.
[12]. Michael A. Pope, R. Sonat Sen, Abderrafi M. Ougouag, Gilles Youinou, Brian Boer, Neutronic analysis of the burning of transuranics in fully ceramic micro-encapsulated tri-isotropic particle-fuel in a PWR, Nuclear Engineering and Design 252, 215– 225, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2012.07.013.
[13]. Bin Liu, Kai Wang, Jing Tu, Fang Liu, Liming Huang, Wenchao Hua, Transmutation of minor actinide in the pressurized water reactors, Annals of Nuclear Energy 64 (2014) 86–92, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2013.09.042.
[14]. Bin Liu, Rendong Jia, Ran Han, Xuefeng Lyu, Jinsheng Han, Wenqiang Li, Minor actinide transmutation characteristics in AP1000, Annals of Nuclear Energy 115 (2018) 116–125, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2018.01.031.
[15]. Wenchao Hu, Bin Liu, Xiaoping Ouyang, Jing Tu, Fang Liu, Liming Huang, Juan Fu, Haiyan Meng, Minor actinide transmutation on PWR burnable poison rods, Annals of Nuclear Energy 77 (2015) 74–82, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2014.10.036.
[16]. Wenchao Hu, Jianping Jing, Jinsheng Bi, Chuanqi Zhao, Bin Liu, Xiaoping Ouyang, Minor actinide transmutation on pressurized water reactor burnable poison rods, Annals of Nuclear Energy 110 (2017) 222–229, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.06.039.
[17]. V. T. Tran et al., Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel, Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, Volume 2019, Article ID 5769147, 2019.
[18]. OECD/NEA, A VVER-1000 LEU and MOX Assembly Computational Benchmark, Nuclear Energy Agency, NEA/NSC/DOC 10, 2002.
[19]. OECD/NEA, A VVER-1000 LEU and MOX Assembly Computational Benchmark, Nuclear Energy Agency, NEA/NSC/DOC 10, 2002.
[20]. A. Kotchetkov, I. Krivitskiy, N. Rabotnov, A. Tsiboulia, S. Iougai, Calculation and experimental studies on minor actinide reactor transmutation, Proceedings of Fifth OECD/NEA Information Exchange Meeting on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation, pp. 289-303, Mol, Belgium, 25-27 November 1998.
[21]. K. Okumura, T. Kugo, K. Kaneko, and K. Tsuchihashi, SRAC2006: A Comprehensive Neutronics Calculation Code System, JAEA-Data/Code 2007-004, 2007.