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ECN publication
Title:
Analysis of a thorium fuelled PWR
 
Author(s):
 
Published by: Publication date:
ECN NUCLEAIR 1997
 
ECN report number: Document type:
ECN-R--97-013 Other
 
Number of pages: Full text:
55 Download PDF  

Abstract:
Burnup calculations have been performed on a PWR fuel lattice with threedifferent fuel types: ordinary UO2 fuel (LEU), 20W% enriched UO2 mixed in ThO2 (MEU) and 93W% enriched UO2 mixed in ThO2 (HEU). Two burnup values of 60 and 100 GWd/tHM have been considered. Besides the nuclide densities and radiotoxicity curves of the spent fuel, also the reactivity coefficients have been calculated to assess the safety aspects of each fuel type. All fuel types considered have acceptable values for the reactivity coefficients, although the moderator temperature coefficient of the HEU fuel may become positive due to the thermal spectrum and the corresponding high boron worth. An accurate assessment of the critical boron concentration is needed in this case. From the radiotoxicity point of view, the use of HEU fuel has preference. Up to 20,000 years of storage, the radiotoxicity per unit electricity generated is lower by a factor of five to ten compared to ordinary LEU fuel. For the MEU fuel, this factor equals two. After this period, the radiotoxicity curves of the MEU and HEU fuels increase due to


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