Minor Actinide Transmutation in Supercritical-CO<sub>2</sub>-Cooled and Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors with Low Burnup Reactivity Swings

Tran, Hoai-Nam; Kato, Yukitaka; Liem, Peng Hong; Hoang, Van-Khanh; Hoang, Sy Minh Tuan

doi:10.1080/00295450.2019.1601470

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…To lessen the burden for disposal and storage of spent nuclear fuel and to reduce its cumulative radiotoxicity to the environment, separation and transmutation of the plutonium and MAs in the used fuel are indispensable [3]. It has been realized that the transmutation of these actinides into either short-lived fission products or valued fissile or stable isotopes can be accomplished in fast reactors, subcritical reactors, or thermal reactors [1,2,[4][5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel Assembly

Tran

Nguyen

et al. 2019

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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Thermal reactors have been considered as interim solution for transmutation of minor actinides recycled from spent nuclear fuel. Various studies have been performed in recent decades to realize this possibility. This paper presents the neutronic feasibility study on transmutation of minor actinides as burnable poison in the VVER-1000 LEU (low enriched uranium) fuel assembly. The VVER-1000 LEU fuel assembly was modeled using the SRAC code system, and the SRAC calculation model was verified against the MCNP6 calculations and the available published benchmark data. Two models of minor actinide loading in the LEU fuel assembly have been investigated: homogeneous mixing in the UGD (Uranium-Gadolinium) pins and coating a thin layer to the UGD pins. The consequent negative reactivity insertion by minor actinides was compensated by reducing the gadolinium content and boron concentration. The reactivity of the LEU assembly versus burnup and the transmutation of minor actinide nuclides were examined in comparison with the reference case. The results demonstrate that transmutation of minor actinides as burnable poison in the VVER-1000 reactor is feasible as minor actinides could partially replace the functions of gadolinium and boric acid for excess reactivity control.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel Assembly

Tran

Nguyen

et al. 2019

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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“…To lessen the burden for disposal and storage of spent nuclear fuel as well as to reduce its cumulative radiotoxicity to the environment, separation and transmutation of the plutonium and MAs in the used fuel are esssential [2]. It has been realized that the transmutation of these actinide into either short-lived fission products or valued fissile or stable isotopes can be accomplished in fast reactors, subcritical reactors or thermal reactors [1,[3][4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on transmutation efficiency of the VVER-1000 fuel assembly with different minor actinide compositions

Tran¹,

Vu²,

Hoang³

et al. 2021

Nucl. Sci. and Tech.

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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.

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“…Irradiating MA in several types of nuclear reactor can result in negative MA growth, meaning that less MA is generated compared to MA incinerated. Fast reactor is usually preferred to incinerate MA and considered in many studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Nevertheless, MA incineration can also be performed in thermal reactor, both research reactor [8] and power reactor [9][10][11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More often than not, studies on MA incineration do not separate the actinides into isotopic level. The MA, from Np to Cm, is left unseparated and burned as a whole in the reactor core [1,5,16,17]. It makes no economic sense to partition MA nuclides into separate isotopes just to incinerate it, thus the MA is better left not partitioned.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the exact proportion of neutron capture and decay in the Cm mass reduction is unknown, as ORIGEN2.1 does not provide such data. Modified CITATION code is able to extract transmutation matrix of MA nuclides [5], but no such capability is found in ORIGEN. Nonetheless, it can probably be estimated by the buildup of Pu-242 isotope, as it is a direct decay product of Cm-242.…”

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Preliminary Study on Minor Actinide Incineration in RSG-GAS without Isotope Separation

Dwijayanto

Alfarisie

2021

gnd

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Minor actinides (MA) resulted from nuclear power plants is often considered as nuisance in spent fuel management due to its considerably long half-life. One of available strategies to deal with MA is to incinerate it, in order to reduce its radioactivity. This paper presents a study on MA incineration in RSG-GAS research reactor. Unlike previous study, this work did not separate the MA into individual isotopes, but incinerated as a whole. ORIGEN2.1 code is employed to calculate MA incineration within RSG-GAS core. MA composition used in this study consists of Np, Am, and Cm isotopes. The Central Irradiation Position (CIP) of RSG-GAS is loaded by 6 kg of MA and irradiated for two years. The result shows that about 1 kg of MA were incinerated after two years of irradiation, or 18,87% of the initial concentration. However, the increase of Cm-242 isotope, along with newly-formed Pu isotopes, were found to be significantly increasing short-term radioactivity compared to un-irradiated MA. Thus, two years-worth of MA incineration cannot be considered as effective, and other strategies must be pursued.

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Minor Actinide Transmutation in Supercritical-CO₂-Cooled and Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors with Low Burnup Reactivity Swings

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel Assembly

Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel Assembly

Study on transmutation efficiency of the VVER-1000 fuel assembly with different minor actinide compositions

Preliminary Study on Minor Actinide Incineration in RSG-GAS without Isotope Separation

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Minor Actinide Transmutation in Supercritical-CO2-Cooled and Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors with Low Burnup Reactivity Swings

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel Assembly

Study on Transmutation of Minor Actinides as Burnable Poison in VVER-1000 Fuel Assembly

Study on transmutation efficiency of the VVER-1000 fuel assembly with different minor actinide compositions

Preliminary Study on Minor Actinide Incineration in RSG-GAS without Isotope Separation

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Minor Actinide Transmutation in Supercritical-CO₂-Cooled and Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors with Low Burnup Reactivity Swings