Development of Nonfertile and Evolutionary Mixed-Oxide Nuclear Fuels for Use in Existing Water Reactors

Abstract

Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by the University of California for the United States Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36. Los Alamos National Laboratory strongly supports academic freedom and a researcher's right to publish; as an institution, however, the Laboratory does not endorse the viewpoint of a publication or guarantee its technical correctness.

Inert matrix fuel neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and transient behavior in a light water reactor

“…Herring et al [3] proposed a ThO 2 based transmutation fuel for LWR systems to eliminate the 238 U matrix from the reactor system entirely. Eaton et al [4] proposed a full inert matrix of ZrO 2 stabilized with CaO and loaded with TRU. Much work has been performed in the yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) matrix system for application to once-through and out (OTTO) fuel cycles, Schram et al [5], Ledergerber et al [6].…”

Development of Monteburns: A Code That Links MCNP and ORIGEN2 in an Automated Fashion for Burnup Calculations

“…lt.l000) close (11) close (12) close (15) close ( '(i2,1x,lpe9.2,30e10.2)') nrst,(gm(i,j),i=l,nauto(j)+l) write (15,'(i2,1x,lpe13.7,30el4.7)') nrst,(gm(i,j),i=l,nauto(j)+l) close (14) close (15) '(i2,1x,lpe9.2,30e10.2)') nrst,(gm(i,j),i=l,nauto(j)+l) write (15,'(i2,1x,lpe13.7,30el4.7)') nrst,(gm(i,j),i=l,nauto(j)+l) close (14) close ( '(3x,f8.2,3x,lpe9.2,3OelO.2)') close ( '(3x,a9,30(lx,a9))') (niso(i,j),i=l,nauto(j)),'actinide' do 90 i=l,nouter-1 read (11,'(3x,lpe9.2,30e10.2)') (bb2(m),rn=l,nauto(j)+l) 90 write (14,'(i2,1x,lpe9.2,3Oe10.2 i4,4(lx,i2,a4,2x,lpe10.4 40 m=abs(kfeedl(nrem,n)),abs(kfeed2(nrem,n) 4(1x,2x,a4,2x,lpe10.4)) else endi f goto 30 read (12, ' (a72) ' ) line write (13,'(a72)') line goto 30 SO close (12) close ( …”

Reduction of the Radiotoxicity of Spent Nuclear Fuel Using a Two-Tiered System Comprising Light Water Reactors and Accelerator-Driven Systems

“…26 The idea of using evolutionary mixed oxide-fueled reactors (with a fraction of the cores as MOX and the rest as NFF) has also been explored. 27 Although research on uranium-free fuels is forthcoming and they represent an efficient technique for transmutation, their implementation is many decades away because so little is known about them. Thus, for this research, it is assumed that using the existing database of knowledge and experience in MOX fuels would lead to the most rapid implementation and most acceptable alternative for transmutation.…”