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Accelerator-driven systems (ADSs) are investigated for long-lived fission product transmutation and fuel regeneration. The aim of this paper is to investigate the nuclear fuel evolution and the neutronic parameters of a lead-cooled accelerator-driven system used for fuel breeding. The fuel used in some fuel rods wasT232hO2forU233production. In the other fuel rods was used a mixture based upon Pu-MA, removed from PWR-spent fuel, reprocessed by GANEX, and finally spiked with thorium or depleted uranium. The use of reprocessed fuel ensured the use ofT232hO2without the initial requirement ofU233enrichment. In this paper was used the Monte Carlo code MCNPX 2.6.0 that presents the depletion/burnup capability, combining an ADS source and kcode-mode (for criticality calculations). The multiplication factor (keff) evolution, the neutron energy spectra in the core at BOL, and the nuclear fuel evolution during the burnup were evaluated. The results indicated that the combined use ofT232hO2and reprocessed fuel allowedU233production without the initial requirement ofU233enrichment.

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Accelerators Driven Systems (ADS) are an innovative type of nuclear system, which is useful for long-lived fission product transmutation and fuel regeneration. The ADS consist of a coupling of a sub-critical nuclear core reactor and a proton beam produced by particle accelerator. These particles are injected into a target for the neutrons production by spallation reactions. This target is of utmost importance for an ADS, representing the coupling of the accelerator and the sub-critical core. The determination of optimal materials for these targets is fundamental for the design of an ADS. The main characteristic of an ideal target is the high production of neutrons per incident proton. In this work are shown results for the neutron production of various types of targets using the MCNPX 2.6.0 code. Furthermore, it is performed a comparative study of transport models to describe the spallation reactions available in this code.