Fuel Cycle Systems Scenario Analysis: Recycling LWR Plutonium in Thorium Fuelled PT-HWRs
This presentation explores the implementation and results of a two-stage fuel cycle scenario involving the recycling of plutonium from LWR spent fuel in Thorium-fuelled PT-HWRs. It discusses the objective, PT-HWR characteristics, Thorium-Plutonium fuel concepts, and the scenario’s methodology, deployment, and storage processes.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author.If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
You are allowed to download the files provided on this website for personal or commercial use, subject to the condition that they are used lawfully. All files are the property of their respective owners.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Fuel Cycle Systems Scenario Analysis: Recycling LWR Plutonium in Thorium Fuelled PT-HWRs Daniel Wojtaszek 3rdTechnical Workshop on Fuel Cycle Simulation July 11, 2018 UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -1-
Presentation Outline Objective Pressure Tube Heavy Water Reactor (PT-HWR) Thorium-Plutonium Fuel Concepts Two Stage Fuel Cycle Scenario Implementation Results Conclusion Discussion UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -2-
Objective To compare the impact of multiple Pu+Th fuel concepts on electricity production in a fuel cycle scenario. Pu from LWR UOX spent fuel -> Pu+Th PT-HWR fuel. UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -3-
Pressure Tube Heavy Water Reactor Heavy water moderated and cooled. High neutron economy. Current PT-HWRs are fuelled with natural uranium (NU). Online refuelling. Fuel is in the form of cylindrical fuel bundles. o (~0.5 m long, ~0.1 m diameter). UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -4-
Thorium-Plutonium Fuel Concepts Low-PU+Th 3.5% Pu. BU ~23.6 MWd/kg. Core Mass ~60 MTHE. ~550 MWe. Hi-Pu+Th 4.5% Pu. BU ~36.4 MWd/kg. Core Mass ~60 MTHE. ~492 MWe. Central Graphite Rod To reduce CVR. Depletion Calculations WIMS-AECL. RFSP. UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -5-
Two Stage Fuel Cycle Scenario Fuel Feed Material Back-end Storage Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear Fuel Separations To ST-2 Pu RU Sep-A UOX Separation Stage 1 (ST-1) LEU O2 NU LWR FP,MA DU 1 UOX separations plant. ~3,000 MTHE/year. 25 year lifetime. Begins operating 24 years. into the scenario. UOX fuel. 4.1% Enriched. 5 years cooling (minimum). 100 LWRs (740 MWe each). 40 year lifetime. All begin operation 1 year into the scenario. Spent UOX fuel. Pu to Pu+Th fabrication (FIFO). RU, FPs, and MAs to long-term storage. 47 MWd/kg. FIFO transfer to separations. Pu From ST-1 Stage 2 (ST-2) Th Pu + Th O2 PT-HWR 1 (Pu,Th)O2 fabrication plant. Sufficient throughput to fuel the entire fleet. 25 year lifetime. Begins operating 1 month after start of separations plant. fabrication plant. Rate of deployment depends on fuel fabrication throughput. Interim Storage Fleet size depends on fuel availability. 30 year lifetime. Deployment begins 1 month after start of (Pu,Th)O2 Long-term Storage UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -6-
Implementation Scenario implemented using Cyclus fuel cycle simulator. Composition of Pu+Th fuel adjusted by Cycamore fuel fabrication plant based on a starting composition. Size of the PT-HWR fleet was calculated using trial and error simulation runs. Th Mine Warning! Pu+Th Fabrication Pu+Th Storage Required calculating the deployment schedule offline based on a guess of the maximum fleet size, and its required fuel fabrication throughput. PT-HWRs Adjusted composition does not take into account any delay in loading fuel into the reactor. Pu from St. 1 UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -7-
Results 100 LWRs 1080 TWd 34 PT-HWRs 183 TWd 26 PT-HWRs 156 TWd UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -8-
Results UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -9-
Results Not FIFO here UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -10-
Conclusions PT-HWRs are a viable existing technology for utilizing thorium- based fuels with plutonium from LWR spent UOX fuel. The higher-burnup fuel can result in more power generation than that of the low-burnup fuel. UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -11-
Discussion Calculation of plutonium fraction in fuel taking into account post-fabrication decay. Finding the PT-HWR deployment schedules required repeated complete simulation runs. o Improving the ability to couple simulation code with an external facility deployment code. o Option of halting or backtracking a simulation when there is insufficient fuel. UNRESTRICTED / ILLIMIT -12-
