Analysis of a Sustainable Gas Cooled Fast Breeder Reactor Concept

Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station

Analysis of a Sustainable Gas Cooled Fast Breeder Reactor Concept

Citation:

A. Kumar, S.S. Chirayath, and P.V. Tsvetkov, “Analysis of a Sustainable Gas Cooled Fast Breeder Reactor Concept”, Annals of Nuclear Energy, 69 (2014).

Abstract:

Analysis of a thorium fueled gas cooled fastrnbreeder reactor (TGFBR) concept has been done to demonstrate thernself-sustainability, breeding capability, actinide recyclingrnability, and thorium fuel feasibility. Simultaneous usernof 232Th and used fuel from light water reactor inrnthe core has been considered. Results obtained confirm the corernneutron spectrum dominates in an intermediate energy range (peak atrn100 keV) similar to that seen in a fast breeder reactor. Thernconceptual design achieves a breeding ratio of 1.034 and an averagernfuel burn-up of 74.5 rnView the MathML source.rn TGFBR concept is to address the eventual shortagernof 235U and nuclear waste management issues. Arnmixture of thorium and uraniumrn(232Th+ 233U) is used as fuel andrnlight water reactor used fuel is utilized as blanket, for thernbreeding of 239Pu. Initial feedrnof 233U has to be obtained from thorium basedrnreactors; even though there are no thorium breeders tornbreed 233U a theoretical evaluation has been usedrnto derive the data for the source of 233U. Reactorrncalculations have been performed with Monte Carlo radiationrntransport code, MCNP/MCNPX. It is determined that this reactor hasrnto be fueled once every 5 years assuming the design thermalrnpower output as 445 MW. Detailed analysis of control rod worthrnhas been performed and different reactivity coefficients have beenrnevaluated as part of the safety analysis. The TGFBR conceptrndemonstrates the sustainability of thorium, viabilityrnof 233U as an alternate to 235U andrnan alternate use for light water reactor used fuel as a blanket forrnthe production of plutonium.

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