Burn-up characteristics of ADS system utilizing the fuel composition from MOX PWRs spent fuel (original) (raw)
Related papers
Study of an ADS Loaded with Thorium and Reprocessed Fuel
Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, 2012
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 ...
Neutron production evaluation from a ADS target utilizing the MCNPX 2.6.0 code
Brazilian Journal of Physics, 2010
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.
On the Use of Existing High Enriched MOX Fuel in an Experimental ADS
The work presented is part of the FZK and RIT contributions to the investigations for the assessment of the possibility to use existing highly-enriched MOX fuel in an ANSALDO-ENEA design for an experimental ADS (XADS) with lead bismuth (LBE) coolant, studied in the PDS-XADS Project of the 5. Framework Program of the European Community. Use of slightly modified existing fuel assemblies, of fuel pins, of fuel pellets and of reprocessed fuel is considered. Neutron physics, thermal hydraulic and burn-up analysis are presented. Use of SNR300 fuel assemblies appears feasible if technical and logistical constraints can be solved. SPX fuel pins or pellets also may be utilized, but due to the lower fissile enrichment a larger core is required. Both reprocessed SPX and SNR300 fuel may be utilized as demonstrated in the ANSALDO reference design with reprocessed SPX fuel. An interesting alternative is the utilization of both SPX and SNR300 pellets in fuel assemblies with identical outer dimensions, but with different lattice parameters. The preliminary burn-up analysis for a reference core with SNR300 fuel assemblies with Monte Carlo and deterministic methods show a burn-up reactivity loss of 6 to 7 pcm per full power day, corresponding to a reactivity loss of about 2% per year at 70 to 80% duty cycle.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND TECHNOLOGY, 2017
Aim of this work is the preliminary thermal-fluid-dynamic assessment of a subcritical system to perform integral measurements on transmutation processes, designed in the frame of EU CHANDA project: in particular, a low power Accelerator Driven System (ADS) may represent an attractive intermediate step to fill the gap between existing and future facilities like MYRRHA (or possibly EFIT). The activity finds its place within the roadmap for the evaluation of transmutation processes in ADSs, where currently measurements are performed on the zero-power ADS Guinevère at SCK•CEN (Mol, Belgium), while in the future it is expected that MYRRHA will be the major high-power facility for performing this kind of studies and assessing the performance of a fast ADS. The neutronic characterization and burn-up simulations based on Monte Carlo codes of the reactor core allowed the definition of the geometry and the composition of the fuel assembly and, therefore, the thermal power to be removed. On this basis a thermo-fluid-dynamic assessment, through simple analytical accounts and detailed 3D CFD calculations by ANSYS FLUENT v17.0 and OpenFOAM-v1612+, was made.
Steady-state neutronic analysis of converting the UK CONSORT reactor for ADS experiments
Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2011
CONSORT is the UK's last remaining civilian research reactor, and its present core is soon to be removed. This study examines the feasibility of re-using the reactor facility for accelerator-driven systems research by replacing the fuel and installing a spallation neutron target driven by an external proton accelerator. MCNP5/MCNPX were used to model alternative, high-density fuels and their coupling to the neutrons generated by 230 MeV protons from a cyclotron striking a solid tungsten spallation target side-on to the core. Low-enriched U 3 Si 2 and U-9Mo were considered as candidates, with only U-9Mo found to be feasible in the compact core; fuel element size and arrangement were kept the same as the original core layout to minimise thermal hydraulic and other changes. Reactor thermal power up to 2.5 kW is predicted for a k ef f of 0.995, large enough to carry out reactor kinetic experiments.
Np-237 incineration study in various beams in ADS setup QUINTA
Nukleonika
Neptunium-237 samples were irradiated in a spallation neutron field produced in accelerator-driven system (ADS) setup QUINTA. Five experiments were carried out on the accelerators at the JINR in Dubna - one in carbon (C6+), three in deuteron, and one in a proton beam. The energy in carbon was 24 GeV, in deuteron 2, 4 and 8 GeV, respectively, and 660 MeV in the proton beam. The incineration study method was based on gamma-ray spectrometry. During the analysis of the spectra several fission products and one actinide were identified. Fission product activities yielded the number of fissions. The actinide (Np-238), a result of neutron capture by Np-237, yielded the number of captures. The main goal of this work was to find out if and how the incineration rate depended on parameters of the accelerator beam.
2013
Nuclear fission devices coupled to particle accelerators driven system (ADS) are being widely studied. These devices have many applications, including nuclear waste transmutation and production of hydrogen, both with significant social and environmental impact. The main objective of this work was to use probabilistic methods of computational modeling to simulate ADS geometry with TRISO fuel. Specifically, we were concern with a comparative study of three different spallation target materials: lead, uranium and tungsten in the pebble bed ADS with TRISO fuel. The variations of the neutron flux, the thermal power, the effective multiplication factor, and the isotopic composition of the TRISO fuel, during the stationary cycle for minor actinides and plutonium isotopes, were studied as a function of the simulated target materials. The refueling cycles during one year of reactor operation for each simulated target were determined by the decreasing of thermal power to a set minimum value. Modeling was performed using Monte Carlo code MCNPX 2.6e. From the analysis of the ADS geometry modeling with TRISO fuel we concluded that the extension of burning time without recharging in the reactor core obtained with the uranium spallation target is the key factor to reduce the mass of the plutonium isotopes and minor actinides in the core. The main future goal of this work is increase the core power for the three spallation target materials simulated.
Neutronics and Shielding Issues of ADS
Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs) are hybrid systems consisting of a high-intensity proton accelerator with beam energy in the hundreds of MeV range impinging on a target of a heavy element and coupled to a sub-critical core. The intense (of the order of 10 15 n/cm 2 /s) and fast neutron fluxes produced by the spallation reactions triggered by the impinging protons in the target can be used to induce fission reactions in the actinides and capture reactions in the longlived fission products in the fuel assemblies in the core of the system. ADSs have been considered during the last fifteen years as one of the promising technological solutions for the transmutation of nuclear waste, reducing the radiotoxicity of the high-level nuclear waste and hence reducing the burden to the geological repositories. The European Commission´s Green Paper entitled "Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply" clearly pointed out the importance of nuclear energy in Europe. With 145 operating reactors producing a total power of 125 GW e , the resulting energy generation of 850 TWh per year provides 35% of the electricity consumption of the European Union. The Green Paper also points out that the nuclear industry has mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle with the exception of waste management and for this reason, "focusing on waste management has to be continued". Amongst the several solutions being studied in recent years, MYRRHA (concept developed at SCK-CEN, Belgium), XADS (design studies co-funded by the European Union in the framework of the 5 th Framework Programme) and XT-ADS and EFIT (acronyms standing for an experimental machine and for the long term transmuter to be deployed on an industrial scale, both in the EUROTRANS project of the 6 th Framework Programme) have deserved the attention of different communities of specialists in the field of Nuclear Technology and Radioactive Waste Management. Although these machines have been designed with different parameters, their implementation and deployment have in common the fact that they raise cutting edge scientific and technological issues, associated to the operation of the high-intensity proton accelerator, the high-power (in the multi-MegaWatt range) delivered to the target and the material damage in the target and surrounding structures. The thermal power in the core, the thermal-hydraulic aspects associated to the heat removal in steady state and also in transient mode, the subcriticality level of the system and the efficiency of the transmutation process, are particularly sensitive to the core design (geometry, number of subassemblies, fuel composition, among many other aspects). Neutronics and shielding issues and the computation and mapping of neutron fluxes and doses are important throughout all stages of design of these systems. In this paper, i) the main characteristics and parameters of the ADS systems previously alluded to will be reviewed ii) the neutronics and shielding calculations of relevance for the design of the ADS systems, for radiation damage and for radiation protection purposes will be extensively described.