Long-life Water Cooled Small Reactor with U—Np—Pu Fuel

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents the advanced concept of a long-life small light water reactor in which the fuel irradiation time is comparable with reactor life-time. The equilibrium analysis reveals that the U-Np-Pu fuel with unique neutronic properties allows to keep sufficient criticality up to burnup value about 140GWd/tHM. The fuel recycle does not lead to additional Pu accumulation. Both Pu and Np are well protected against un-controlled proliferation by a large fraction of 238Pu in their mixture. To improve the reactor safety, the wider fuel pin lattice was applied. The radiation damage of structural materials is within the stainless steel limitation. KEYWORDS: burnupU-Np-Pu fuelnon-proliferationequilibrium cyclemoderator-to-fuel ratiosafety parameterswater cooled reactors