Transmutation Strategy Using Thorium-Reprocessed Fuel ADS for Future Reactors in Vietnam

Abstract

Nuclear power is believed to be a key to the energy security for a developing country like Vietnam where the power demanding increases rapidly every year. Nevertheless, spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants is the source of radiotoxic and proliferation risk. A conceptual design of ADS utilizing thorium fuel as a based fuel and reprocessed fuel as a seed for nuclear waste transmutation and energy production is proposed as one of the clean, safe, and economical solutions for the problem. In the design, 96 seed assemblies and 84 blanket assemblies were inserted into the core to make a heterogeneous subcritical core configuration. Introducing thorium fuel into the core offers an effective way to transmute plutonium and minor actinide (MA) and gain energy from this process. Transmutation rate as a function of burnup is estimated using MCNPX 2.7.0 code. Results show that by using the seed-blanket designed ADS, at 40 GWd/t burnup, 192 kg of plutonium and 156 kg of MA can be eliminated. Equivalently, 1 GW th ADS can be able to transmute the transuranic (TRU) waste from 2 GW th LWRs. 14 units of ADS would be required to eliminate TRUs from the future reactors to be constructed in Vietnam.

Impact of Thorium Capture Cross Section Uncertainty on the Thorium Utilized ADS Reactivity Calculation

“…The calculation model employed in this study is the 2D seed and blanket fuel ADS model [3]. The seed and blanket thorium-reprocessed fuel ADS was designed in order to achieve the efficient transuranic elements (TRUs) transmutation, simplification in the assembly fabrication, and in-core management and Th fuel utilization to produce energy.…”

“…Thorium with its abundance in nature attracts a considerable attention to be a replacing fuel for uranium fuel. Moreover, with the feature that the TRUs production during an operating cycle is drastically reduced compared with the use of uranium, fuel cycle is favorable for the TRUs eliminating system such as the energy amplifier demonstrator facility (EADF) [1], thorium-fueled fast breed reactors (FBRs) [2], or the seed and blanket thorium-reprocessed fuel ADS [3]. However, experimental data and research results of thorium fuel are very limited compared with uranium fuel data and the calculation results of the thorium fuel utilized system could not be evaluated properly.…”

Time-Dependent Neutronic Analysis of a Power-Flattened Gas Cooled Accelerator Driven System Fuelled with Thorium, Uranium, Plutonium, and Curium Dioxides TRISO Particles

“…Their results show that the use of ThO 2 and reprocessed fuel combination enabled uranium ( 233 U) production without the initial 233 U enrichment. Vu and Kitada [6] propose a conceptual design of ADS utilizing thorium fuel and reprocessed fuel for transmutation of nuclear waste and production of energy. Abánades and Pérez-Navarro [7] examine the transmutation of nuclear waste in a gas cooled ADS moderated with graphite.…”